melonbrawl assesses the shot locker

This year's challenge: 50 books

The guidelines: physical books only, Early Reviewer books don't count.

Special-sauce challenge: read as many of my stockpiled sea novels as possible

Let the rolling broadside begin!

Yes, we need a naval artillery too!

Oh, I love sea novels! Looking forward to seeing what you're reading.

It may be a while before I get to my stash...I seem to be on a "literature of the weird" kick at the moment. But never fear! I have a heap of Aubrey/Maturin and Hornblower waiting for me.

1. The Manual of Detection, Jedediah Berry
Library book sale, 4/11

I cannot even believe how good this was. If Kafka had had an ounce of whimsy (and a taste for detective novels), he might have written something like this. The dreamlike feel is exactly right, the layered symbolism is all there, the sense of absurdity is palpable. What's blessedly absent is the sense of crushing futility -- and this is coming from someone who loves Kafka. Good to the last word.

Rating: 5 stars.

Disposition: Keep. Even if I never reread it, I know at least three people who would love to borrow it.

I approve of "literature of the weird" kicks! The Manual of Detection is already on my wishlist, and I am now eying it wistfully and trying to remember my goal of buying fewer books this year. Because "if Kafka had an ounce of whimsy" is kind of all I need to hear to sell me on it.

I will be eagerly awaiting your comments on the Hornblower books! That series is on my "try out from the library and hopefully like enough to buy the rest" list. :)

rabbitprincess, go for it! I have only three more to go. I really like Lieutenant Hornblower, Hornblower During the Crisis (even though it's unfinished), and Flying Colours. The others have appealed to me in greater or lesser measure depending on how much time Horatio spends being a miserable, anxious wreck. That's just a little too close to home, thanks.

Edited to add:
I really enjoyed the A&E productions -- if you haven't seen them, you might want to check them out. There's enough difference from the books to keep things lively. Also, Star Trek will never look quite the same again. Seriously.

melonbrawl,

Hornblower During the Crisis was one of my favorites, even though it was unfinished. I was dying to see how it all played out. The edition I had also included two other short stories that I really enjoyed.

I find the later Hornblower's most enjoyable - I think my favorites are Ship of the Line and Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies. And I've only seen a few of the A&E productions, but they are wonderful!

I LOVE Hornblower, have since my father gave me the books when I was a child. I have only read them in translation so far and am in the process of gathering all in the original to re-read them at some point.

8: I shall indeed then! Does order matter? I was considering going in chronological rather than publication order, but if they can be read out of order I may do that instead.

@ 11: I decided to read them in chronological order. It was a bit of a jolt when I hit "Beat to Quarters" and suddenly none of the characters had any back story. So maybe publication order is the way to go. Other opinions, anyone?

I haven't read this series, but I usually prefer to read in publication order. I don't know, I guess it makes me feel a little bit more in sync with the author to read their work as it progresses. If I really like the series I might go back and read it in chronological order to see if I gain any new insight that way.

13: That is a good point about being in sync with the author. He may have had a specific reason for jumping around in Hornblower's timeline the way he did. So perhaps I will end up reading in publication order (once I neutralize a few BOMBS...).

I always read them in chronological order. Seems to make more sense to me. Yes, it is confusing if suddenly the backstory doesn't match, but I always get over it quickly.

2. The Bone Key, Sarah Monette
Bought 12/11

Oh, Sarah Monette. Could you please just write everything? No matter what your subject, your writing grabs me by the collar and won't let go. The Bone Key is a set of deliciously creepy stories in the tradition of Lovecraft, Bierce, and M.R. James (or so I'm told -- haven't read any of that James). All the stories are told by the same narrator, who has a strong affinity for the "odd." Things just...happen to him. Or find him. And it's never good. I'm so glad I didn't wait too long to read this.

Rating: Five stars.

Disposition: Keep. No question about it.

And onto the wishlist The Bone Key goes...

3. Blood Heat, Jim Mortimore
Bought 5/11

One of my pile of Doctor Who New Adventures. This is a good one: if you ever wondered what would have happened if "Doctor Who and the Silurians" hadn't played out the way it did, here's your answer. It's not pretty. It is, however, very interesting and very well plotted. I love that the book ends with a huge mystery still unsolved.

Rating: Four stars.

Disposition: Keep for now, perhaps pass along later.

I really like the way rabbitprincess is also using her BOMB thread for her thoughts on non-BOMB reading, so I think I'll do the same!

First up:
On Books and the Housing of them, W.E. Gladstone
Source: Project Gutenberg

Yes, it's that Gladstone, and boy did he love his books. I heard about this book -- pamphlet, really -- through Anne Fadiman's Ex Libris and figured I'd give it a try. I love the way Gladstone writes here and speaks of books as though they were almost alive. His ultra-careful calculations of the perfect shelving system is a marvel. There's something indefinably charming about this work.

Another not-a-BOMB:

Boneshaker, Cherie Priest
Source: Tor was having a sale on certain e-books and I caved

Alternate Seattle, mid-19th century. Zombie plague, people just squeaking by, one teenager desperate to learn about his father, one mother who goes after her son. Cherie Priest's storytelling is really good, but her worldbuilding is the real gem here. The underground societies inside the city walls are amazingly well thought out. I felt that the story took about 1/4 to 1/3 of the length to really get up to speed, but once it did, I couldn't stop reading.

not-a-BOMB:

Astro City: Life in the Big City, Kurt Busiek
Source: borrowed from a friend

In a moment of weakness, I joined yet another book group. This one focuses on comics and graphic novels, which I love. I'd never heard of Astro City before -- wish I had! This collection is a set of five linked stories based in a city that has loads of superheroes running around. Two stories are from the point of view of one of the superheroes and three are from the point of view of regular folks living in the city. Great concept, and the results are warm, funny, and worth thinking about.

19: Glad you like it! I figured I already had my thread so may as well keep all my updates in one place. (Also these days, if I didn't post non-BOMB reads, the thread would be pretty darn quiet! :P)

Love the sound of that Gladstone pamphlet!

Indeed, the Gladstone sounds like something I need to get a copy of!

22 & 23: right here at Project Gutenberg. It's a quickie. This poor thing had been languishing in the depths of my Kindle for months.

The last book for January: one more non-BOMB.

The King in Yellow and Other Horror Stories, Robert W. Chambers
Source: library

My friend A and I share a taste for late-19th/early-20th century horror. He suggested I take a look at this collection, since Chambers was one of Lovecraft's influences. The King in Yellow is a very uneven collection: some of the stories are really good, some are pretty "meh," and some are kind of halfway to brilliant before they run off the rails and become crap. Worth a look if you're interested in doing a little genre archeology, but nothing too special.

Thanks, melonbrawl, I must download that!

Finished an interesting set of non-BOMB reads over the weekend:

Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, M.R. James
Source: Project Gutenberg

Followed up on a tip from the introduction to The Bone Key, and it was so, so worth it. Wow, could this guy write. These are Gothic-horror style ghost stories of the Edwardian era, told with a splash of extra-dry humor. They're still scary as heck, though. I love it.

The Revenge of the Wizard's Ghost, John Bellairs
Source: library

One of the unnamed horrors in James' story "Count Magnus" brought me back to this John Bellairs book. Either this thing is a more common concept than I knew, or Bellairs was a fan of James' stories. In any case, the thing scared the daylights out of me when I first read Revenge of the Wizard's Ghost at age 10. Unlike some of Bellairs' other books, this one didn't quite stand up to rereading, but it was a nostalgic detour I'm glad I took.

Hooray! February's first BOMB!

4. Magnitude 8: Earthquakes and Life Along the San Andreas Fault, Philip L. Fradkin
Library book sale, 2009

Every couple of years I seem to end up reading about California quakes. I'm lucky enough to be in a geologically inert part of the state, but it's always good to be aware of what's possible. Fradkin looks at earthquakes along the San Andreas fault, starting with some 18th century Spanish accounts and ending with the 1994 Northridge quake. Very good reading. I only wish it were a little more up-to-date: the publication date is 1999.

Rating: Four stars

Disposition: Keep.

5. The Blind Assassin, Margaret Atwood
Has been hanging around the house for at least 10 years

Margaret Atwood is amazing here, as always. She tells two stories in counterpoint and then brings them together in exactly the right way at exactly the right time. The feel of the novel reminded me of Atonement in the way you're just waiting for everything to come crashing down. I'm not sure I'll ever reread either Atonement or The Blind Assassin, but they're both masterpieces.

Rating: Five stars

Disposition: Keep.

6. A Social History of English Cricket, Derek Birley
Bought 8/11

This one took forever to get through -- it's good, but very very dense. Last summer I spontaneously developed a mania for cricket and, being me, immediately went out and obtained a real chunkster of a book on the subject. Learning about cricket's place in the lives and the imaginations of the English was illuminating and worthwhile, but it turns out I'd rather just watch the match. I'd definitely be interested in a similar book on cricket's place in the lives of, say, Pakistanis or South Africans. Still, a well-written and well-researched read.

Rating: Four stars for wit and comprehensiveness

Disposition: Keep for now, possibly pass along later.

7. Dancing the Code, Paul Leonard
Recycle Books, San Jose, 4/11

I don't know what it is about Recycle Books that causes it to be the place everyone's Doctor Who books end up, but I'm not complaining. No, that's not quite true -- I wish it weren't two hours away. Anyway! Dancing the Code is one of the Missing Adventures novels: it's slotted into a particular spot in the Doctor Who timeline and sticks closely to the established TV canon. This one falls near the end of Jo Grant's time with UNIT and the Third Doctor and involves a civil war in an imaginary Arab country. For some reason I can't quite identify, it feels very mid-90s (it was written in 1995), which doesn't fit with when it's actually supposed to take place. The pacing and characterization are well-done (especially Jo), and there's plenty of alien-invasion stuff, but something doesn't quite work right.

Rating: Three and a half stars for a very well-written Jo and avoiding easy solutions to complicated problems

Disposition: I'll be passing this one along. (Anyone here want it?)
Update: swapped for another Missing Adventure

Not a BOMB:

The Little Death, Michael Nava
Source: library

Read this for one of my book groups. The interesting thing about this book group is that it focuses on California-based stories with ethnic and/or cultural minority characters. Here we have a gay Latino lawyer with a tangled murder case on his hands. Good story, but boy does it ever shout "I was written in the late 70s! Observe the following cultural attitudes!" It didn't detract from the book, but it was definitely a distraction. At under 200 pages it didn't bother me enough to keep me from finishing the book.

un-BOMBs:

More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, M.R. James
Source: Project Gutenberg

Not quite as good as the first set. Turns out I'd heard "Casting the Runes" read at some point, and you know what? It was creepy all over again.

A Beautiful Blue Death, Charles Finch
Source: library

Good solid mystery with a likeable protagonist. Not engrossing to the exclusion of everything else, but excellent airplane reading.

8. The Boy Who Reversed Himself, William Sleator
Library book sale, 7/09

I loved William Sleator's books as a young person, so when I saw a bunch of them at a library book sale, I snapped them up. This one mainly takes place in the fourth dimension. Yes, really. The math is even correct! Also, the narrator comes to exactly the right conclusion about food being indigestible after she's accidentally 4-D flipped. (Chirality of sugars and all that...) And it turns out that you can get high off of "reversed" ketchup. No, seriously! Would I lie to you about a thing like that?

Rating: Five stars. Even better now than it was twenty-three years ago.

Disposition: Keep. Perhaps I'll shelve it next to Gödel, Escher, Bach.

A BOMB, but an utter dud:

9. McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales, ed. Michael Chabon
BookMooch, 4/11

I give up. I've been trying to read this collection for two months now and I keep trying to like it, but I just don't. Some of the stories are very good, but the effect in combination is very unpleasantly creepy. Strange, since I clearly like "vintage creepy." Who knows.

Rating: Two stars. Good quality stories, but for the most part they sure weren't doing it for this reader.

Disposition: Left it in the staff room at work.

>34 melonbrawl:: Oh, man, I leaved William Sleator so much as a kid. He was my first introduction to a lot of now-familiar science-fictional concepts, and some of his books creeped me out blew my mind so much that they've stuck with me forever. I don't think I ever read that one, though.

>36 bragan:: The one that I'd really like to reread is The Green Futures of Tycho. I seem to remember it made quite an impression, but I remember nothing of the plot...

non-BOMBS:

A Thin Ghost and Others, M.R. James
Source: Project Gutenberg

No. 3 of James' four books. The last one isn't in public domain, so I'll have to go scrounge it up somewhere. (No! Not...book shopping!!) This one is every bit as good as Ghost Stories of an Antiquary.

Gods' Man, Lynd Ward
Source: library

A wordless novel in woodcuts depicting an artist's Faustian bargain. The artwork is stunning. I kept getting stuck studying the lines of the prints instead of actually following the story. Interesting read.

>37 melonbrawl:: You know, that's exactly my experience of The Green Futures of Tycho, too. I vaguely remember something about alternate universes and/or time travel and... maybe something about a green stone? And that's it. But whatever it was actually about, I remember being incredibly affected by it at the time.

I'm always a little nervous about the idea of re-reading Sleator, though, because I'm afraid he'll never live up to my memories. But House of Stairs was still pretty creepy when I re-read it a few years ago, even if it didn't keep me awake at night like it did the first time.

>38 melonbrawl: I read (or something) an omnibus of Ward's books last year including God's Man and was similarly impressed. I loved his style and would love to have individual pages framed and hung on my walls.

10. The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr together with a fragmentary Biography of Kapellmeister Johannes Kreisler on random sheets of wastepaper, E.T.A. Hoffmann
Christmas present, 2009

The concept: a magnificent egoist of a cat (what other kind is there?) has written his biography. Unfortunately, the printer has mixed in Murr's waste paper, which is part of a biography of his master's friend. The mix is oddly modern at the same time as having a wonderfully old-fashioned, capital-R Romantic feel. I liked Murr so much from the start that it took me a while to get into the Kappelmeister's story, but once I did, I didn't want those sections to end either. I definitely recommend this one to people who have a little patience and want to read some really out-there 19th century literature. Don't forget to invite your own Murr to keep you company while you read.

Rating: Four stars. Worth a reread.

Disposition: Keep, perhaps pass along later.

I fell prey to the siren song of the library: I went in intending to pick up ONE thing and came home with an armload. Oops. Here's the first:

The Habitation of the Blessed, Catherynne Valente

Oh, how I love Catherynne Valente. Nothing she's written has disappointed me. Habitation is the first part of her Dirge for Prester John tales, which chronicle the fallout of a Christian monk's arrival in an impossible country. Nothing is ever the same again after his arrival -- how could it be? Valente's worldbuilding is as amazing as ever. I particularly love the concept of the tree that fruits books, which decay as you read them. Perfect.

Another one off the library stack:

The Archimedes Codex: Reviel Netz and William Noel

It sounds like Dan Brown, but it's not. About three years ago, I heard a talk by someone involved with the Archimedes Palimpsest Project, was fascinated, and then forgot about it. The backstory is that three lost (or little-known) texts of Archimedes were discovered in a medieval prayer book. Well, if by "in" you mean "made up the recycled parchment of." A team of curators, scientists, and historians of mathematics pulled together to disbind, image, and read what they could of the underlying text.

I love the way the book is set up: the chapters alternate between authors, so the reader first gets the life story of the codex and adventures in imaging and then gets walked through the mathematical text itself. Archimedes, as it turns out, loved the "voilà!" moment. He leads his reader through his proof, sprinkling in seemingly unrelated bits of information along the way. Then, just when you're thoroughly puzzled, he pulls the rabbit out of the hat and brings it all together. No wonder mathematicians of the ancient world looked forward to his letters!

Also, I'm pleased beyond words that the majority of my wishlist is available through either my work library or my local library. This doesn't bode well for my off-the-shelf reading, though.

Oh, the Archimedes Codex sounds utterly fascinating. Is it nonfiction?

45> Yes. It would make a great novel, though!

Still working through that library pile...

A Visit From the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan

I liked this both more and less than I expected. Many of the characters are unsympathetic, but the interlinked-short-story structure of the book makes it possible to grit your teeth and just deal. Still, there was a palpable unhappiness that sort of oozed from the book. Not my favorite. However, I enjoyed the last few stories a whole lot: Egan's vision of America twenty years from now is just different enough to shake the characters out of complacency. There's one story in powerpoint slides that's narrated by a child of one of the established characters -- honestly, I could have read a whole book written like that. Too bad you really have to read the rest of the book to get the true impact of the story.

11. Parasite Pig, William Sleator
Library book sale, 7/09

Figured I'd better knock out one book off my shelf, at least. This is a sequel to Sleator's brilliant Interstellar Pig. Sadly, it doesn't live up to the original. It's got the usual Sleator weirdness (aliens disguised as humans, giant person-eating crabs, etc.), but I didn't find it nearly as compelling. Maybe it's the whole parasite angle: you see, the narrative twist is that our human protagonist has a (completely realistic) brain parasite that has an agenda of its own. Euuugh.

The story is definitely exciting and would absolutely entertain a kid going through her gross-out stage. I'm not sure I ever had one, really -- that may be the problem here.

Rating: Three stars. Maybe that's just the disappointment talking.
Disposition: Back to the library book sale you go!

And to finish catching up on my book blurbing, one more non-BOMB.

Oscar Wilde and the Vampire Murders, Gyles Brandreth
Source: heap of books from the library

I love this series. It's "potato chip" reading: "oh, just one more chapter. Okay, two more. No, wait..." This one is particularly dangerous since it's presented as a series of documents: diary entries, telegrams, and newspaper clippings. The mystery itself just spun on and on until Brandreth snapped it all back like a yo-yo. The resolution was really just too sudden and a little unconvincing. Okay, that sounds really silly when talking about a novel with "vampire" in the title, but you know what I mean. Still, it kept me up too late a couple days in a row, so I'd count it as a success.

We all need potato chip books from time to time! :) I think I'll be eating/reading a lot of those this week; we're having unseasonably warm temperatures (26 degrees Celsius with a humidex of 29 in March?? Say what?!) and I can feel my brain starting to rebel against my more "cerebral" reads. Fluff and/or low expectations fiction it is!

12. Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins
Mooched 9/2011

Somehow this was almost more distressing than The Hunger Games. Maybe because in that one you knew the rules of the society, and now all bets are off? Not sure. In any case, it was immensely engrossing. I'll definitely read the final book of the series.

Rating: Four stars
Disposition: Keep until my partner has had a chance to read it, then back into the swap pool

Almost at the bottom of the library pile!

Decoding the Heavens, Jo Marchant
Source: library

This came up as a LibraryThing recommendation based on The Archimedes Codex, and I promptly scooped it up. It's another non-fiction account of unraveling the meaning and history of a classical artifact, this time a geared device. Marchant is a really good writer -- if you like history of science but sometimes the author's style puts you to sleep, check this out. Unfortunately, I now have another call number range that I have to avoid if I'm ever going to get through my books at home.

Hm, haven't felt much like posting. *shrug*

Anyway, I finished the library stack and have managed one BOMB this month, at least:

13. Eye Classics: At the Mountains of Madness, H.P. Lovecraft & Ian Culbard.
Passed along by a coworker about a week ago

Loved it. At the Mountains of Madness is one of my very favorite Lovecraft stories, and Culbard did it justice. The art is just perfect, both in style and pace: there were moments where I turned the page and gasped aloud.

Rating: Five stars
Disposition: Keep

14. The Nutmeg of Consolation, Patrick O'Brian
Special Sauce Challenge!
PaperBack Swap, 1/11

Nice to see Jack and Stephen again. Let's see if I can recap the book without giving too much away... *ahem* In no particular order: two little girls added to the crew (honorary members), rats eat all the coca leaves, Reverend Martin is bitten by every animal going, a keg of lemon juice escapes Killick's notice, Jack is looking rather unwell, Stephen precipitates a near diplomatic crisis, and New South Wales is generally unpleasant. And only Patrick O'Brian would have one of his protagonists stabbed by a platypus in the last two and a half pages of a book.

Rating: Able. No! Sorry. I mean four stars.
Disposition: Keep, for all love.

15. Doctor Who and the Daleks, David Whitaker
BookMooch, 4/12

Target novelization. Hilariously, the title page reads "Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure With the Daleks," which is one of the most hopeless titles I've heard in a while. Whitaker makes several changes to the story as aired, and to good effect: Ian narrates; the entire meeting of Ian, Barbara, Susan, and the Doctor is redone; and Whitaker even drops in a neat little reference to "The Edge of Destruction." Some of the action is ratcheted up a notch, such as the fight with the lake monster. You kind of get the feeling Whitaker is doing in writing the things that couldn't be done with effects when the story aired. I'll tell you, though, it's pretty weird to see Dalek dialogue not REN!-DERED! IN! ALL! CAPS!, because you can definitely still hear them screeching.

Rating: Three and a half stars. Nice reworking of a classic story.
Disposition: Keep for now. Hey, it's only taking up a half-inch or less of shelf space.

16. Ransom, Lee Rowan
Special Sauce Challenge!
Library book sale, 12/10

It's a sea novel, a tale of kidnap and escape, and a romance, pretty much in that order. Really, it's an adventure story with a romance component. I have a real sweet tooth for well-written historical romances, especially ones that manage to avoid excessively heavy quantities of ANGST and DOOM. Some of this is inevitable when you have two protagonists who are both thinking "if he ever finds out how I feel, we'll both be shot." Mercifully, Lee Rowan's characters didn't spend chapters upon chapters stewing in misery. Initial distress, yes, some panic, yes, but no endless string of misunderstandings. I hate those. Anyway! If you like sea novels and/or same-sex love stories, check this one out. It's a good one.

Rating: Three and a half stars. I liked it quite well, but it wouldn't stand up to a reread.
Disposition: Into the swap pool it goes. If anyone here wants it, let me know.

After an conversation with my book group about the feasibility of making some sort of giant Pez dispenser for books, I put together a simple reading randomizer. I assigned each book in the hoard an mp3 on my computer (obviously this works better for a smaller book pile), made a playlist, and when it's time for a new book, I run it on shuffle.

And what did it come up with? Another romance.

17. False Colors, Alex Beecroft
Special Sauce Challenge!
Bought through PaperBack Swap, 8/10

Well, in comparison with the last book I read, this one is way short on kittens-and-rainbows fluff. The adventure aspect is a much grittier story and Beecroft also doesn't pull any punches when dealing with 18th century social mores. Ouch. Her protagonists are infuriatingly stubborn (Alfie Donwell, you're such a dumbass) and it takes them literally the entire book to sort themselves out. Seriously. I'm talking about ten pages from the end.

Unexpectedly for a sea novel, there are several minor (yet important) female characters. I loved them all. Even the ones who only appear briefly seem to walk right off the page. How very refreshing. Actually, there are one or two whose own stories I'd very much like to hear.

The bottom line: well-written, well-paced, but more grim than I enjoy.

Rating: Three stars
Disposition: Swap pool

18. Schott's Food and Drink Miscellany, Ben Schott
Bought 4/12

Figured I'd knock out a short-timer in among the older of my unread books. I love trivia, I love food, and I really love useless reference books. And yes, I have both the original Schott's and the parody, Shite's Unoriginal Miscellany. Love them both. The food and drink angle was fun, although Schott seems to go on an ortolan-related spree at the end. I could live very happily indeed never again hearing about eating ortolan. *shudder*

Rating: Four stars.
Disposition: Keep. Goes on the shelf with Schott's Original Miscellany.

19. The Book of the War, ed. Lawrence Miles
Bought 5/11

This was a real treat. It's a semi-canonical tie-in to the Doctor Who universe, covering an epic conflict over the meaning and process of history. Or maybe the history and process of meaning. Either way, it's fascinating. The book is set up like an encyclopedia, which leads the reader on a wonderful twisting wander through the characters, events, and philosophies of the war. I honestly didn't want it to end.

Rating: Five stars, but I'd give it six if I could
Disposition: Keep, no question about it.

OK, The Book of the War is definitely going on the wishlist. I've been really impressed with some of Miles' Doctor Who novels.

If you've read Alien Bodies, you'll definitely recognize some familiar faces. I absolutely love the whole concept of Faction Paradox and I strongly suspect Mad Norwegian will be getting yet another cash infusion from me in the near future. :)

Assuming Big Finish doesn't clean me out, that is.

Loving your reviews and the way you add personal notes like "disposition".

re: Cricket - not my thing, but it makes me think I should look for something on curling, for which I've developed my own passion over the last couple of Olympics.

The Manual of Detection went right onto the wishlist.

I read At the Mountains of Madness not that long ago and enjoyed it. Just this week I read Who Goes There?, another early Antarctica-set short horror story, in case you're interested.

auntmarge64, thanks! I'll look into Who Goes There? -- sounds intriguing.

One un-BOMB:

A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson
Source: library

Let me preface this by saying that I am no kind of hiker. I dislike nine-tenths of the whole process, but I do love having been someplace out of the way. Bryson admirably captures both these aspects in his account of his attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail. It’s funny, poignant, and loaded with the kind of science writing and social commentary that Bryson is known for. It sure didn’t make me want to go hiking, but by the time he reached New England, I was homesick for my native granite.

Two BOMBS:

20. The Boggart, Susan Cooper
PaperBack Swap, 9/10

bog·gart noun ˈbägə(r)t : Mischievous household spirit. Sours milk, steals things from your fruit bowl, teases the dog, and occasionally hitches a ride to Toronto in a desk drawer.

This is the prequel to The Boggart and the Monster, which I picked up at a library book sale a couple of years ago. Like its sibling book, The Boggart is light fun with some family drama and a touch of real danger. Oddly, the one place the story suffers is in the intensely dated nature of the kids’ computer talk. Cooper was clearly trying to add a little cultural color but for some reason, it comes off with an air of "bwuh? What the heck are my characters talking about?". Coming from the author, this is weird. Over all, though, a fun, quick read.

Rating: Three and a half stars
Disposition: Donate it and its sibling to local “little free library” (http://www.littlefreelibrary.org/)

21. A Stir of Bones, Nina Kiriki Hoffman
PaperBack Swap, 5/12

It’s a treat to pull a book out of the book drop mailbox and read it right away. I’ve been waiting a long time for this one: I came across a copy in Pandemonium Books a couple of years ago, was intrigued by the jacket copy, didn’t buy it, and promptly forgot both the author and the title immediately upon leaving the store. With the help of LibraryThing and some inspired guesswork, I finally traced it down. I wishlisted it on PaperBack Swap and waited. And waited some more. It was completely worth it. A Stir of Bones has a Shirley Jackson kind of creepiness and bleakness to it, but there’s a hopeful note to the story as well. The ghost, delightfully enough, is somehow the most alive character in the story. Plus, there’s a setient house. Well, two, really. I can never pass up a sentient house.

Rating: Four stars
Disposition: Keep. Maybe loan to people I know will actually return it.

I loved A Walk in the Woods, but then, I do like hiking. It was the first Bryson I've read, and I've made a point of picking up almost everything he's written since.

A Stir of Bones sounds good. I remember reading and liking some of Hoffman's other stuff, way back when. I think that one may be going on the wishlist.

I really loved A Walk in the Woods too.

66 & 67 > I also loved A Walk in the Woods, despite my stubborn insistence on being a complete potato. Bill Bryson is just so, so good!

I've just started my very first Bryson Notes from a Small Island and have already made people on the bus stare at me while I snorted giggles at the description of him talking to the Dover locals with flannel boxer shorts on his head...

I'll have to put A Walk in the Woods on my TBR!

22. Clarissa Oakes, Patrick O'Brian
Bought 10/11
Special Sauce Challenge!

Oh, I loved this one. It's almost completely character-driven -- the action-y bits seem like an afterthought. At least, I kept trying to skim past them, even though I knew if I did I'd miss something that would become important two or three books later. Also, I confess that I was really hoping that Clarissa's husband would bite the dust and that she would stay on as a midshipman. Ha! No. I think I've been reading too much fanfic again.

Rating: Five stars
Disposition: Permanent collection

23. It Must've Been Something I Ate, Jeffrey Steingarten
Has been in the house for at least 10 years

Jeffrey Steingarten amuses and annoys me in equal measure, but since I keep finishing and enjoying his books, the amusement must be what lingers. It Must've Been Something I Ate is a follow-up to The Man Who Ate Everything; similarly, it's a set of essays on the many aspects of food and eating. Among other adventures, Steingarten goes fishing for bluefin, examines the technical aspects of Roman bread-baking, tests fourteen espresso machines, cooks for his dog, ages steaks at home, and attempts to make turducken. As a near-vegetarian, I discovered that I couldn't read this while eating: I have no problem knowing where meat comes from, but reading about making black pudding while eating was just not working out.

My one serious complaint is this: I wish he'd shut up about food allergies. For someone who understands the pleasures of cooking and eating, you'd think he'd get that some of us need to avoid or limit certain things in order to have the same enjoyment. Nope. If the joke comes naturally, Mr. Steingarten, it's because it's already been used too many times. Get new material.

Irritation (inflammation?) aside, while reading this book I just could not stop talking about it. There are so many great tidbits of social history and enough flashes of genuinely funny dry wit that it was worth wading through his less-than-brilliant moments.

Rating: Four stars
Disposition: Off to the library book sale

24. Q, Luther Blissett
Bought 10/10

Interestingly enough, "Luther Blissett" is not a single person. This book was authored by a subset of the Luther Blissett Project, a group of Italian authors and artists founded in 2000. Reading this book, I was incredibly impressed that multiple authors could write such a long work with consistent style and voice. It’s a fantastic story.

Q follows an unnamed Anabaptist through the social and political upheaval of sixteenth-century Europe. We follow him through peasant revolts, the takeover of Münster, his adoption into a utopian community, a short-lived career as a defrauder of Europe’s largest bank, and his travels as a dealer of heretical books. At every turn, his world is brought crashing down by Q, a spy for the Inquisition. It’s a hard book to read in some ways: there’s so much hope for change, and it ends in disaster every time. For all that, though, it’s a strangely hopeful book. Our narrator does ultimately find some measure of peace and is able to come to terms with his enemy and some of what he’s survived.

I’d highly recommend this to anyone interested in sixteenth-century Europe and especially in the religious upheaval of the time.

Rating: Four stars
Disposition: Pass along

Woo! I'm at the halfway mark!

25. The Jackass Frigate, Alaric Bond
PaperBack Swap, 8/11
Special Sauce Challenge!

What is the deal with small-press sea novels having such bad editing? I ran across this last year with Seth Hunter’s The Tide of War, but this is far worse. Fireship Press needs to hire a copy editor ASAP. Homonym errors abound (heeled/healed being the most persistent), but some of the best howlers are spellcheck failures: I’m fairly sure a “letter of marquee” is a very different beast from a “letter of marque.” (“Now hiring, one night only! HMS Surprise! See your name in lights!!”) And we won’t even discuss the terrifying typos in the French dialogue.

*Deep breath* Okay, let’s get off that soapbox. About the story: mystery, ghost story (or is it?), and adventure. One first lieutenant shot (and good riddance), one pistol still smelling of powder, and an entire ship of people with motives. No, actually, the Master-at-Arms didn’t have one. But then, he was something of a sociopath too. So why does the dead guy seem to be unable to stay dead? And will the rest of the crew survive the battle of Cape St. Vincent?

First, the good news. The second half of the book is much better written than the first, and it’s the better writing that sticks with you. Bond gives each of his characters a full personality and understandable motives; it’s especially nice to see this done for the crew as well as the officers. The bad news is that Bond is a little too enamored of detail. I don’t need a narrator to explain the precise procedure for firing a cannon. I also don’t need to know what the second lieutenant’s gansey looks like (the man puts it on and then pulls it off two seconds later, for heaven’s sake). There’s far too much telling and not nearly enough showing. Of course, this is his first book, so perhaps this is a problem he irons out later in the series. I’m not invested enough in the characters to find out, though.

Rating: Three stars. Up from two and a half because I wasn’t bored.
Disposition: Sails with the next tide

26. Gallows Thief, Bernard Cornwell
BookMooch, 12/10

This time, a mystery by the author of the Sharpe novels. As with Sharpe, our protagonist is a tall soldier with a good heart and a bad temper. Rider Sandman is safely home from the Napoleonic Wars, but out of money and out of a commission: he sold it to support his mother and sister while he works on paying off his late father's gambling debts. Cricket is fun, but really isn't bringing in ready cash, so Rider ends up taking on a job from the Home Secretary. The mission: extract a confession from a condemned prisoner who may or may not be guilty but who has an important intercessor on his behalf. Sandman figures this should be a snap, but when he meets the prisoner, it's clear that not only is the man innocent, but something deeper is going on. And dammit, he's going to find out what.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one. It moves fast, the characters are well-rounded, and there were enough twists to keep me guessing. I appreciate that Cornwell writes female characters who are clearly people, not just stand-ins for a type.

Rating: Three and a half stars. Pleasant, but nothing special.
Disposition: Library book sale

27. First Frontier, David McIntee
PaperBack Swap, 6/12

Another reading treat! I pulled off the mailing wrapper and dove right in. New Mexico, 1957: the US Army is working with experimental aircraft. Because this is a Doctor Who novel, it is in fact alien technology. But who are these aliens, what do they want, and why do they keep appearing to this one random guy? Also, who the heck is that deeply suspect Air Force scientific advisor? The Doctor, Ace, and Benny show up to sort things out and/or make a crazy mess, and it’s great. Stuff blows up, in-jokes fly past every couple pages, and someone grows fur. Good times.

Rating: Four stars
Disposition: Keep, most definitely.

28. Harvard Yard, William Martin
Gift from Mom, 7/11

Kind of like "National Treasure," but with a lot more historical credibility. The story skips back and forth in time as Our Hero (Peter Fallon, a Boston rare books dealer) attempts to unpick the mystery of a prominent local family and their connection to a missing Shakespeare play. It's an enjoyable read, but it felt as long as its 700 pages would lead you to believe. I'm not sure how that happened -- the historical portions are a treat to read and the modern-day mystery isn't too bad either. I can't honestly think of what I would have left out.

Harvard Yard is fun for those intimately familiar with Cambridge, Boston, and the 'burbs on the 128 belt. Mom brought me a copy as a small taste of home, and as such, I really enjoyed it. I'll probably hang onto it for a little while and then release it into the wild to find its way to another Massachusetts expat.

Rating: Three stars
Disposition: Keep for now, probably destined for the library book sale

I love the way you add a disposition for a book in your reviews. Outstanding idea! However, you read too many books that end up on my TBR list. Bad Melonbrawl. Lol.

LOL, Kirconnell, just paying it forward. That happens to me ALL the time with other people's lists!

76: I'm another Massachusetts expat: grew up in Quincy, lived in Boston and then Cambridge before falling for a native Californian and moving west. I enjoy novels set in those familiar locations, so I'll add this one to my wishlist.

For the same reason, I've read nearly all of Linda Barnes's Carlotta Carlyle mysteries. They're almost like a quick trip home.

Ooh, thanks for the rec, Meredy. I'll have to check those out.

(Grew up in Concord, lived in Northampton and Cambridge before moving out here in the wake of my partner's Ph.D. program.)

Finished two more last night, but for the sake of cyderry's sanity, I'm going to count them towards August.

29. The Moonstone, Wilkie Collins
no clue how long I've had this

I bought this at a library book sale years and years ago on the strength of Mom's recommendation: she read it in college and loved it. I liked it too. Collins gives us a locked-room mystery presented to us in six narratives. Each character gives his or her piece of the story, and each is a very distinct character. The novel suffers somewhat from the usual embarrassing attitudes of the mid-nineteenth century, but Collins does manage to push the envelope a little bit, which is always nice.

Rating: Three and a half stars
Disposition: Back into the library book sale circuit

30. H.P. Lovecraft's Favorite Weird Tales, Douglas A. Anderson
Bought 6/12

Recommended to me by a fellow Lovecraftian. The stories included were published between about 1890 and 1930, which gives a good stylistic range. As with any collection, the results are somewhat mixed. There are some real gems in here, and there are a few that fall flat. My favorites were "The Willows" (Algernon Blackwood) and "The Floor Above" (M.L. Humphreys). Yikes. Best of all, this anthology only had three stories I'd already read.

Rating: Four stars
Disposition: Keep

31. Cricket Explained, Robert Eastaway
Bought 7/12

Snapped this one up at Powells.com just in time for the England vs. South Africa Test matches. Originally titled What is a Googly? The Mysteries of Cricket Explained, it does what it says on the tin. It was really nice to have a supplement to what I'd already figured out; I particularly appreciated the portions on tactics. Also, it was super handy to have diagrams of the different types of spin bowling. I mean, I can't exactly see what the ball is doing over streaming video!

Rating: Four and a half stars. Docked a half point for some really regrettable Americanization by the New-York-based editors
Disposition: Keep close at hand!

32. The Dark Path, David McIntee
Bought 7/12

This is one of those much-sought Doctor Who Missing Adventures that can go for $30 a pop. When Powell's alerted me that it had come in and was available for FOUR DOLLARS I literally whooped. (And then apologized to my coworkers.) I've been trying hard to get myself to commit to regular workouts and this was an excellent bribe: no peeking allowed until I had kept up my regimen for one week. Well, I did it. Go me!

The Dark Path could easily be subtitled "Or, How Koschei Finally Flipped His S@#t." At last we get to meet the Master before he decided he was the Master. (Though frankly, he was well on his way.) It's interesting -- and not a little distressing -- to watch the Whoniverse's Manipulator-In-Chief get the rug whipped out from under him. Seriously, I spent the entire last third of the book going "Oh no. No, no, no. Don't-- Well, crap. That's...oh no. *facepalm*" I'm not sure later regenerations of the Doctor would have made it out of the same situation unscathed; lucky for him that in this novel he's only on number two.

Rating: Four stars
Disposition: MINE MINE MINE ...uh, I mean "keep."

Heh. Having seen how much some of those now out-of-print Who novels go for, I have the somewhat reassuring feeling that if I'm ever in truly dire financial straits, I can always sell my collection, and possibly thus be able to eat for months.

I remember quite liking The Dark Path, even if I tend to only regard it as canonical on alternate Tuesdays.

Now that's what I call a sound investment. No temptation to liquidate before it's absolutely necessary! Always a good plan to have a couple copies of Lungbarrow stashed away for a rainy day.

33. Commodore Hornblower, C.S. Forester
BookMooch, 11/10
Special Sauce Challenge!

I definitely liked this one. Hornblower is rather unpleasant at home, but once he got out to sea, his attitude evaporated mercifully quickly. (Though I’d give quite a lot to hear what Brown and Hebe have to say about working in that house!) He does indeed seem to be mellowing with age...or something. This installment takes place in the Baltic of 1812: Hornblower is instrumental in pushing Sweden and Russia into the war against Napoleon. It’s a definite change to see the action from the view of commanding officers instead of captains, sailors, sergeants, and infantry. I enjoyed the diplomacy and political intrigue; Hornblower is good at politics and in this sphere his constant second-guessing is completely appropriate.

As for Braun, the would-be assassin...well, I couldn’t help thinking that Stephen Maturin would have seen that problem a mile off and dealt with it before it became urgent. (Probably with a heroic dose of rhubarb.) Of course, that’s a little unfair to Forester. :)

Rating: Four stars
Disposition: Keep

34. Playing Hard Ball: County Cricket and Big League Baseball, E.T. Smith
Bought 7/12

What an ideal summer book. Short, light, and centered around two seasonally-appropriate cousin sports. Ed Smith, a Kent cricketer, took the opportunity to spend some time with the New York Mets. Along the way, he absorbed a lot of baseball culture and wrote this smart little book exploring the cultural contexts of cricket and baseball in the UK and the US. Worth a read even if you're not the world's biggest sports fan.

Rating: Three and a half stars
Disposition: Keep

35. The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield
BookMooch, 10/10

Whoa, this was amazing. I expected to like it, but there's something extra-special here -- maybe it's that the book works on so many levels at once. It's a ghost story, a Gothic thriller, a literary riff on Jane Eyre, and a straight-up mystery. I was pleasantly surprised by the change in tone about 3/4 of the way through: up to then, I'd been flinching, waiting for the bottom to fall out. But quite against expectation, the story ends in a very hopeful place, with a sense of new beginning. Highly recommend this one.

Rating: Five stars
Disposition: Pass along to a friend

I completely agree with you on book number 35!

Connie, I passed the book on to my friend and she's absolutely glued. :)

36. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N.K. Jemisin
Bought 6/12

This is Jemisin's first book, and the first of her work I've read. Boy, can she write -- I couldn't put this book down. The story revolves around Yeine, a young woman pulled into the machinations of her world's ruling elite. The elite in question enslaved several of the world's gods after a centuries-ago war in heaven (for lack of a better term); the enslaved gods are their number one weapon. The gods, naturally, have their own agenda and, equally naturally, Yeine is part of it. It's a compelling story and the ending is a definite surprise.

Rating: Four stars
Disposition: Keep for now

>89 melonbrawl:.

I'm sure she is!

Book dump!

37. Lord Hornblower, C.S. Forester
BookMooch 1/11
Special Sauce Challenge!

Hey, Hornblower? You're a big jerk in this one. Just thought you ought to know. Your meltdown over the loss of your BFF (who you routinely treated really badly, in case you hadn't noticed) is completely understandable and, actually, is the only thing that makes me sort of sympathize with you here. Otherwise, wow. Really?

Rating: Three and a half stars. I did keep reading, after all, and the end really picked up speed.
Disposition: Keep

38. Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies, C.S. Forester
Library book sale, 10/10
Special Sauce Challenge!

This...didn't pick up where Lord Hornblower left off. At all. I was disappointed to miss the domestic fallout of Hornblower's return after mooching about and subsequently escaping a firing squad in France. I seriously thought Barbara was going to have his head on a plate. Instead, these stories pick up a few years and a major mellowing-out later. Right here I saw the problem with reading the books in character-chronology order instead of publication order: the tone was completely different and, to some extent, Hornblower himself was rather different. On the whole, I think I prefer Forester's second round of Hornblower novels. His hero is more nuanced and the tone is a little lighter. I particularly like Lt. Gerard, who is completely un-cowed by his admiral's foot-stamping. Good on you, Gerard.

Rating: Three and a half stars
Disposition: Keep

39. Wine: An Introduction for Americans, M.A. Amerine and V.L. Singleton
Library book sale, 4/11

Nice little book. This covers the basics of wine science and varietals of major wine exporting regions. A lot of the interest for me comes from the fact that the book was written in 1965 -- a tremendous amount has changed since then, both in the California wine market and in the cultural approach to wine in this country.

Rating: Four stars
Disposition: Keep

40. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, Alan Bradley
Library book sale, 8/12

Just plain fun. Good vacation reading: fast, snappy, and well-paced. I like Flavia a lot -- of course, I find it hard to dislike a smartypants eleven-year-old who runs rings around the local police. I'll definitely be reading more of this series.

Rating: Three and a half stars
Disposition: Pass along to a friend

Greetings! Just scrolling through your thread here for the first time. I, too, loved Ghost Stories of an Antiquary and The Blind Assassin. Noticed with interest the book about baseball and cricket. Are you at all familiar with the various attempts to introduce baseball to England over the years? A while back I read an interesting book on the subject called British Baseball And the West Ham Club: History of a 1930s Professional Team in East London by Josh Chetwynd.

Hi rocketjk, thanks for stopping in! That looks like a fantastic book -- I'll definitely check it out. I'm not at all familiar with the history of baseball in the UK and I think it's time to correct that. :)

41. Sister Pelagia and the White Bulldog, Boris Akunin
BookMooch, 11/10

Boris Akunin both frustrates and charms me. Somehow, his novels always start out slow enough that I'm in danger of losing interest, but by the end I can't imagine stopping long enough to eat. Despite knowing this, I really do seem to have trouble pushing through the scene-setting. Frustrating.

That aside, I love his nineteenth-century Russian settings. The Sister Pelagia books are set in a rural province, which makes them a fun change from his more extensive Erast Fandorin series, which are set in cities or other centers of action (Moscow, the Crimea, etc.).

Doubtless, I'll pick up another of Akunin's books at some point, wonder why I bothered, and be thrilled all over by the end.

Rating: Three and a half stars
Disposition: Off to the Little Free Library

Hey! Just dropping by to see what books you're reading. Very nice collection. I'm not really a Patrick O'Brien fan, but you make me want to pick him up and try again.

Thanks, Kirconnell -- that's a lovely thing to say!

42. About Time 3: The Unauthorized Guide to Doctor Who (Seasons 7 to 11), Tat Wood
Bought 10/11

Last fall I bought the whole set of these -- all six volumes. I'm reading the entries after I watch each serial, which leaves me most of the way through Hartnell, just barely begun with Troughton, and completely through Pertwee. Whew. The "About Time" guides are a lot of fun. Each entry is broken up into sections on things to notice, characterization, lore, things that don't make sense, etc. I really enjoyed some of the essays interspersed with the serial write-ups (ex., "Who Died and Made YOU Dalek Supreme?"). Tat Wood often makes me laugh and typically avoids annoying me really badly, so I'd say that over all, these are a success.

Rating: Four stars
Disposition: Permanent collection

Dr. who.... really love Dr. Who.

Meeeee tooooo!

In fact, I finished up another one of those volumes last night:

43. About Time 1: The Unauthorized Guide to Doctor Who (Seasons 1 to 3), Tat Wood
Bought 10/11

Finished a couple Hartnell serials over the weekend. Bonus: I got to finish up this volume as well. Bill's last two stories are in season four, which is the next volume, sooo...

Rating: Four stars
Disposition: Permanent collection

Are you working your way through the whole series? Because that sounds like an ambitious but very worthy project. :)

I sure am! I watched all the extant Hartnell and Troughton serials and then moved on to Pertwee...I'm catching up on the recons a bit at a time. (For perspective, I've been at this for over a year.)

Awesome! And I really need to get hold of the recons sometime. I've seen hardly any of them.

Have you seen the Adventures with the Wife in Space blog? It's by a guy who's convinced his wife -- who really doesn't call herself a fan, but is game for the experiment, anyway -- to watch every single Classic Who ep with him, writing up her reactions as they go. They're a good way through Peter Davison's stint by now. It's often really entertaining.

Oh, I love that blog. Sue cracks me up. I particularly enjoy the "is it the Master?" count. :)

I go to dailymotion.com for the recons. One of the users, Matrixarchive (formerly TardisMedia), has most of them. I'd rather not give a direct link since he's had the Beeb hounding him once already.

What really cracks me up are the times when it is the Master, and she fails to notice.

And thanks! No direct link is necessary; I'm sure I can find it when needed. Finding the time to watch may be another matter...

Heh. Melonbrawl, Destroyer of Free Time. That's me. :)

44. The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, ed. J.J. Adams
Bought 10/11

I think I need to stop buying anthologies of Holmes stories. They're not getting any better. For the most part, the stories in this collection don't overlap with the other collections I have, but the ones that do overlap are typically among the best. Oh well. I would have enjoyed the stories more if they had had been weighted more towards the science-fiction-y side than towards "this is clearly the product of phosphorescent paint, elastic bands, and an observer willing to be taken in by the illusion!" That gets old.

Rating: Three and a half stars
Disposition: Keep. *sigh* It is, after all, part of a growing collection of off-kilter Holmes pastiche.

45. Ready To Catch Him Should He Fall, Neil Bartlett
BookMooch 11/10

A strange book. It functions as a fable -- stand-ins instead of character names, ritualized/theatrical rites of passage -- but is firmly located in a time and place. It's the story of a romance that succeeds against the odds, but in no way is this book a capital-R Romance. Actually, it's also a rather sad story about the endings of things. I don't quite know how to categorize it.

Rating: Three stars
Disposition: Pass along

46. Destination: Void, Frank Herbert
PaperBack Swap, 9/12

Philosophy in space. Specifically, philosophy of consciousness. There are some really interesting questions that Herbert explores, and I think it's going to take me a second reading to really bite into them. Honestly, I spent the whole book waiting for a plot-borne shoe to drop and it never really did.

Rating: Three stars
Disposition: Keep for now

47. Houses of Boston's Back Bay, Bainbridge Bunting
Christmas gift, 2009

This was a gift from my dad, who is something of an antiquarian. He also really enjoys fine carpentry and is clearly the parent from whom I got my endless need to make stuff, so this is right up his (and my) alley. Bunting's architectural history was published in the 1960s, so some things are a little out of date. For example, I'm not actually sure that all of the buildings he profiles are still standing, and certain major transportation projects are still in the future. Nonetheless, it was a fascinating (if dense) read, and I'd love to go looking for a few of the houses Bunting mentions the next time I'm in town.

Rating: Four stars
Disposition: Keep

48. No Quarter, Broos Campbell
Special Sauce Challenge!
PaperBack Swap 11/12

Sea novel! Its place in the Special Sauce Challenge is a bit debatable as it was never "stockpiled" in the first place. I guess it counts as stockpile growth prevention. One of the blurbs on the back cover reads "Refreshingly cynical," and I agree on both counts. Seventeen-year-old Matty is a midshipman recently transferred to the Rattle-Snake, which is captained by his cousin (good)...who has a dreadful alcohol problem (very NOT good). The first lieutenant is clearly gunning for captaincy, but how far will he go to make it happen? How far will he have to go? Matty is caught in an extremely awkward position. Watching him try to negotiate his way is very interesting indeed.

I love that Campbell has chosen to set his novel in the United States of 1799-1800. I also love that Campbell has been a tall-ship sailor (aboard the Lady Washington, no less! I love that ship.). He really seems to have a feel for the ships, the crews, and for period/location/class-appropriate language. Good stuff.

Rating: Four stars
Disposition: Keep

49. Regeneration, Pat Barker
BookMooch, 2/11

Beautiful and haunting. This is the type of novel that leaves you feeling like you actually know the characters, even after only a few pages. The story revolves around a World War I army doctor who treats men suffering from shell shock. The painful reality is that the doctor's aim is to get the men well enough to return to battle. Regeneration is very much an anti-war novel, but it also deals with the complexities of politics, pacifism, and sexuality. Highly recommended.

Rating: Five stars
Disposition: Keep

Number fifty! Too bad it was a dud.

50. Picture of Evil, Graham Masterton
BookMooch, 2/11

I think this was recommended to me on the basis of my having enjoyed The Picture of Dorian Gray. Well, both stories have an evil painting, true. And maybe the titular Picture of Evil works the same way -- I don't know, because I couldn't get past page 60. This reads as though Masterton reached into a grab-bag of really tired clichés and just pulled them out by the fistful. Two or three would have been fine, but honestly, every single character and every single interaction was 100% predictable. Between the boredom and the gore, I just gave up.

Rating: Two stars
Disposition: Into the swap pile you go...

Okay, now to see how far I can get before December 31st.

51. In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination, Margaret Atwood
Christmas 2011

I love Atwood. If she wrote copy for cereal boxes, I'd read it without hesitation. This collection of essays on science fiction and speculative fiction (and the very fuzzy and/or nonexistent line between them) is up to her usual standards, but is also a little repetitive. That's not too surprising considering that the essays are pulled together from a variety of sources and tied together with a longer piece or two at the beginning of the work. But hey, I enjoyed it, and I'm definitely glad to have a copy of her piece on the origins of the "mad scientist" trope.

Rating: Four stars
Disposition: Keep

Yay, you met your goal! Congrats! :) The Atwood book sounds interesting. If I see it in the library sometime I might pick it up.

Congratulations!

Congratulations!