- Matter by Iain M. Banks. Solid far future science fiction set in the author’s Culture universe. First I’ve read in this setting, interesting characters tho mostly dead by bookend. I admire an author who can kill off their main characters in furtherance of the plot and emotional impact of the book.
- The Creator’s Map by Emilio Calderon. At first I feared this was one of the legion of Da Vinci Code clones, but it is really a spy and love story twisted together. And a deep look at 3 characters who experience the same events, but have profoundly different experiences based on their own issues and emotions.
Posts Tagged Recent Books
- Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Wow, excellent. Better as a graphic novel than it could have been as a book, the use of text and font and images to intertwine multiple stories works very well. You have to think as you read.
- Where Are The Customer’s Yachts? by Fred Schwed Jr. Timeless classic, its crtiticism of the financial services industry and customers’ foolishness is still dead on.
- Broken Angels By Richard K Morgan. Another Kovacs novel, this one wasn’t a home run for me. With all the morally ambiguous factions, I could never quite get Kovacs’ motivations. And his drawn out death postponed by one miracle drug after another quit working for me. The whole thing felt a little choppy and unmotivated.
- Biomechanics of the Gastrointestinal Tract by Hans Gregersen. Interesting reference on the GI tract, treating it as a mechanical device and analyzing behaviour from that view. Useful to help you build up a complete picture.
- An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser. A compelling story of overreaching ambition, lust, and tragedy. But oh my gosh could it have used an editor — needs to be about 40% shorter. The whole first book establishing the lustful ambition of the protagonist should have been a chapter.
- Beginner’s Greek by James Collins. Entertaining comic romance. Light and breezy, appealing leads.
- Big Russ and Me by Tim Russert. A light autobiography, particularly poignant in light of Russert’s untimely passing. No deep messages but solid life lessons and makes you sorry that Russert is gone.
- Plato and a Platypus walk into a bar by Cathcart and Klein. Philosophy lite. A diverting bathroom book, no more.
- The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. A parable about being true to your dreams. Simplistic. And so kind of appealing but kind of ridiculous. A week later, hasn’t stuck with me.
- Crash Course: Gastrointestinal System by Seidel and Long. A western medicine reference to the gastrointestinal system. adequate overview. all trees, no forest tho.
- The Enzyme Factor by Hiromi Shinya. Excellent sensible book on health and diet. Based on his long long experience. Contrast with the prior text, very much a forest view. Some very sensible conclusions about diet and lifestyle. Some of the details may not be fully justified (coffee enemas on a regular basis, really??) but the overall discussion is very useful.
- One False Move by Harlan Coben. Another myron bolitar tale. Snappy as always. Can’t go wrong with one of these on the beach or the plane.
- Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks. Eh. Pretty rote Bond story with a telegraphed twist. A fine screenplay but pretty tired as a story. Don’t understand the rave reviews this has gotten, there are like thousands of suspense and mystery books that are more interesting
