The Teeth of the Tiger by Tom Clancy
I have been a fan and fool for Tom Clancy since I think I was in 6th grade and read "The Hunt of the Red October". Since that time I have no ever been dissappointed about a Tom Clancy book, and have eagerly awaited each one. That is until now. This book was light, did not develop the characters and just didn't seem to have an ending. I hope there is more to this story, not necessarily the book itself, but what happened to Tom Clancy to put out such an incomplete, sub-standard work.
Overall rating 2 of 5.
The Face by Dean R. Koontz
Review coming soon! It deserves it, plus I must provide a word of caution to NOT be taken lightly!
2nd Chance by Patterson, Gross
I think this is the first book I have read by James Patterson. He has been so mainstream lately that I figured it couldn't hurt. But I was a bit dissappointed. The book was predictable and seemed to drag on a bit. I am not sure I will read another of his unless I am desperate at an airport or something.
Overall rating 2 out of 5 stars.
Vector Prime by R. A. Salvatore
Maybe I will do a review later.
City of Bones by Michael Connelly
Will review maybe later!
Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand
This is a dang fine book, a very interesting and compelling read. But it will ruin the movie for you, once you see how they bastardize the movie to fit history into some directors mind. It will however answer many of those questions that you probably had watching the movie like; what about Red's family? What happened to him later? What about Seabiscuit was he just glue?
Overall rating 5 out of 5 stars!
Raveling by Peter Moore Smith
There are many times where I purchase a book on a whim, do to a recomendation or for some other reason only to forget about why I purchased the book in the first place. This book falls into that category. But it did provide an intense murder mystery in a unique style where I can say I wasn't quite sure of the ending until it finally happened. The author tells the book from the view of the main character Pilot's psychotic-schizophrenic's mind. While this book did keep me on the edge of my seat at times, and the cruesome account of the death was almost too much for me (and I can take a lot) I am not sure I would recomend this book. It is simple and egaging, but lacks the focus to be an effective thriller.
Overal rating 2 out of 5 stars
Something to Write Home About by Seth Swirsky
This is an excellent summer read. The author Seth Swirsky has collected various letters about baseball from famouls people and collected them all in a book, in their orginal format. They are backdropped by picture of the person. Some of them include:
- George Bush
- Buzz Aldrin
- Babe Ruth
- William S. Cohen
- Samuel Goldwyn
- The Amazing Kreskin
- Goose Gossage
- and many many more . . .
It is the type of books that reminds you how important baseball is to America, that it is the all-american game and means so many things to so many people.
Overall rating 5 out of 5.
Posted by Mutato at 03:42 PM
Managing with Carrots by Elton, Gostick
This was a quick read, full of comment sense and no extreme insights. I needed something to read on the plane and wanted to read something usefull for work to take a break from fiction. While I do agree with much of what is said in the book, one does need to look at who your employees are before deciding to take the authors suggestions to heart. As employees of OC Tanner they are indirectly pushing their products for recognition efforts. Don't get me wrong they are nice products. But the whole thing about giving gifts other then money is totally dependent on the audience it is presented to. And in my experience if I were to give out a watch to my employees they would all be pawning it for some cold hard cash.
Overall rating 1 out of 5 stars.
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Must review later, GREAT book!
Overall rating 5 of 5!
Moneyball by Michael Lewis
What a summer read! What a fine book about not only baseball but about sports itself. This book gives an inside look into the Oakland A's and their abilitiy to stay a viable success while having one of the lowest payrolls in baseball. This book got me excited about baseball again and it has been a number of years since I even gave a flying crap about anything in the sport.
Overall rating 5 out of 5.
Songbook by Nick Hornby
Essays on songs, about songs and you get a CD filled with some of the songs in the book. The rest I guess you hit Kazaa for.
Overall rating 3 of 5, based on originality and the CD included in book.
The King of Torts by John Grisham
This is a typical Grisham book and they are turning out to be very predictable. You ever notice how the good guy always seems to win and win big.
Overall rating 2.5 out of 5 stars.
The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean
One of the most marvelous things about reading to me is not only getting lost in the story that the author lays out before you, but also the learning that can come out of no where. The Orchid Thief provides a valuable insight into the world of Orchids. A world that I had no idea that existed. A world also that includes, what the author somewhat deems as the last American wilderness, the state of Florida.
The Orchid Thief is the most interesting piece of nonfiction that I have read in years. It is informative, entertaining and tells a good story. I imagine that I will be purchasing my first orchid in the next few months. It would have been sooner but at the time I am in a state of transit as we make the move from Utah to Southern California. Where I am sure many differeent kind of orchids will flourish.
A last note on this book, as I finish it in the hotel room while on a business trip in Japan, I have decided to release it. One last thing to pack back to the states, but also participating in an idea that is worthwhile and I haven't taken advantage of much before. So view the travels of this paperbook copy of The Orchid Thief, on Bookcrossing.com as it hopefully is passed on to many an avid reader.
Overall rating 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Prey by Michael Crichton
I have enjoyed Michael Crichton books since I found Jurrasic Park by accident well before the movie. His books are easy to read and entertaining, pure entertainment. Prey is no different. The plot involves a group of scientists that are working with nanotechnology and the nanobots, for a lack of a better word, start evolving on their own.
The book was one I found hard to put down, and it read very very fast. It is a good story and we will probably see it as a movie someday soon, like all the other Michael Crichton books.
Overall rating 4 out of 5 stars. (for pure entertainment value)
McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales by Michael Chabon
Mcsweeneys or Mcsweeneys.net that publishes this book is a . . . well it's a . . .hmm, I think you just need to go visit the site and see for yourself. In any case, this book is a collection of short stories. I LOVE short stories and this was was especially important becuase it contained short stories of two (2) of my favorite author's namely Michael Chabon's "The Martian Agent, a Planetary Romance" (who also edited the collection) and Stephen King's, "The Tale of Gray Dick". It also has short stories by such author's as Michael Crichton and Nick Hornsby.
Many of the stories are quite entertaining and worth the read. Short stories are so easy to read too because hence the name they are so short. Buy the book take it with you to the throne room and stay in there until you have finished a story. It will be the nicest most relaxing 20 minutes you have had all day. Plus it will make you more regular.
Overall rating 4 out of 5 stars.
Portrait of a Killer
Patricia Cornwell is better known for her crime solving books featuring the main character Kay Scarpetta. I have enjoyed various of her books very much, as they deal closely with the crime scene investigation that has always been a favorite, and is very popular right now. When I read that she was working on a non-fiction book investigating the Jack the Ripper murders, I added it to my must read list immediately.
But the book however was far from the quality and entertainment value of her fiction. Cornwell approaches this book as somewhat of a thesis. She doesn't hold back the secret and almost from the first page provides the detail that Walter Sickert is Jack the Ripper. She then goes through page after page of stating why, but most of it is just conjecture and guess. While using and hinting at things like DNA tests, hand-writing tests, and fingerprints none of this is really available to be utilized for various reasons.
On the positive side, the author does provide a wealth of information on how crimes were investigated then compared to now. She talks in length about the many different sciences that are used today and how they benefit the justice system. Here explanation alone of what a psychopath is, believes and lives is a treat to read. But overall the books skips around and around with seemingly no logical flow. It is very difficult to read, and while entertaining in subject matter if not historical significance, it could and should have been better from such a well known and distinguished author.
Overall rating 2 out of 5 stars.
Small Pieces Loosely Joined by Weinberger, David
This is the second time I have flown through this book. Weinberger does and EXCELLENT job of clarifying where the Internet is, and what it is all about. A few weeks ago, a friend asked/told me that "web-surfing" was dead. People don't do it anymore. I told him he couldn't be more wrong, that it just happened in a different way, mostly in the form of weblogs that are molded into RSS and XML feeds and served to an aggregator.
The book points out just how the Internet has changed our lives dramatically. The social, psychological, philosophical and educational changes are many and they are presented here with an entertaining wit.
If you want to know where the Internet is, and where it might be going take a gander at this easy to read and a can't miss book that will surely give you an edge around the water cooler or maybe better said along the theme of this book, the chat room.
Overall rating 5 out of 5 stars.
I picked this book up after finding a gem of a book last Xmas (Skipping Christmas: Grisham) by a well known author that was writting a bit out of his usual element. David Baldacci, normally known for his legal thrillers has branched out recently with the football story that I reviewed here called "They Mighty Johns" and now the "Christmas Train".
The book is about a reporter who has been restricted from flying commercial air because of an airport incident, and decides to do a story on train travel in America. He decides to go cross-country from the east coast to the west coast and look at what train travel is like and what stories people have to tell.
Along the way he finds many interesting characters that are never really fully developed and a story, that while entertaining, is somewhat predictable. Somewhat as there were still a few surprises for me.
The premise of the book works though, and I found it not only entertaining and enjoyable but with a desire to take a train ride. Enjoy it for what it is, a small, entertaining Christmas story.
Overall rating 3 out of 5 stars.
The Book that Changed My Life, Interviews with National Book Award Winners and Finalists. Edited by Diane Olsen, the book consists of interviews with many great authors such as James Carrol, E.L. Doctorow, Barry Lopez, David McCullough, Alice McDermott, Robert Stone and others.
This book appealed to me because of my love for reading. I always find it interesting to see what others are reading and why they read them. One of my favorite questions I have asked as I have had the chance to interview people is "what the last book they read was?" and "why?". I believe reading is a fundamental trait of an intelligent person and base for critical thinking in a persons mind. This doesn't necessarily mean that someone has to read books to qualify for this in my mind as the world is especially filled with other media forms with the advent of the Internet (especially blogs).
The interesting insights from these writers were frew and far between, and I quickly came to the realization that in most cases the interviews were skewed toward discussions of their newest books rather then the books read that "changed their lives". I did find some value in some passages, a few which I have noted below, but all in all besides giving me a couple ideas for books to add to my "reading list" this book was not worth the time.
It is an easy read, and the diversity of the authors will appeal to a wide group of readers.
Authors/Inteviewees include:
Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book:
A writer's final authority has, finally to be his or her own conscience and imagination. You can't worry about what other people are going to make of what you write. And you can't be trying to get permission from somebody.
-James Carroll, interview included in "Book that Changed my Life"
I think that in our culture writers sometimes are given the responsibility for being authortities when what they are really doing is reporting authoritative work. The authority lies with the story and with the antecedents of the story; the writer's authority is, I think more limited. So if you read a book and you think it's very smart, it may well be that the writer is not the smart person, but that you are the smart person, because you have seen in the pattern the writer made some send of the brilliance of life.
...it's the recognition of a pattern, a structure that can effectively or beautifully suspend something about what it means to be human, that compels you as a writer to tell that story. If you do it well, peopple of many different kinds will find something reaffirming or stimulating in the story. And it that's the case, then you've got to be at peace with what other people quite different from you make of what you've written. I believe a really good story is more profound than the writer herself or himself can ever explain.
-Barry Lopez, interview included in "Book that Changed my Life"
There is something compelling about a man who sets out to do more than he is able to do, because we all have to do more then we're able to do--or at least we have to try, in order to get anything done. We have to set out to do what we can, but we also have to aim higher then our ability will allow us, if we want to succeed. Yet anybody who accomplishes something real will sometimes think of him or herself as a phony - - even a person who achieves great things. There is a level on which the real artist, the real achiever, the real saint, will think of himself as a con man, a wrongdoer. I think it's just something in human nature that makes even those who accomplish the greatest good feel guilty.
-Robert Stone. interview included in "Book that Changed my Life"
Overall rating 2 out of 5 stars.
The Mighty Johns
by David Baldacci, et al.
This book is a collection of short stories, with one major novella (the title itself) of mystery and thriller stories all with a football setting, background or theme. David Baldacci, the other of the novella writes a superb story that starts the book of with a long touchdown drive, and the book just continues from there.
The other stories include:
- The Ehrengraf Reverse by Lawrence Block
- Semi-Pro by James Crumley
- A Sunday in January by Brendan DuBois
- Whatever it Takes to Win by Tim Green
- Good Seats by Colin Harrison
- Gone Down to Corpus by Dennis Lehane
- No Thing by Mike Lupica
- The Empire Strikes Back by Brad Meltzer
- The Arcane Receiver by Carol O'Connell
- The End of Innocence by Anne Perry
- Hollywood Spring and Axle by Gary Phillips
- Gone to the Dawgs by Peter Robinson
- Rumors of Gravity by John Westermann
While short stories can take some getting used to, and there is a definate style to reading them (you must start and finish a story in one sitting), this book was remarkably good and was a great read to get in the mood for football and the upcoming football season, after all it is the best time of the year.
