tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-226042102024-09-08T22:31:56.898-05:00Where Nat-Wu and friends come to talk about books, writers, and anything book-inspired or related.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger111125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22604210.post-35589987372223290662015-05-02T20:09:00.001-05:002015-05-02T20:09:55.805-05:00

The Garden of Evening Mists by Twan Eng Tan My rating: 5 of 5 stars This was a truly, truly beautiful book. On the one hand it's a fascinating look into a place and a period of time that no longer exists. On the other hand, it is best described as a meditation on memory and time and love. It's easy to summarize and say that the book is about an English-Speaking Chinese

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22604210.post-102037278335550372015-03-06T14:22:00.001-06:002015-03-06T14:22:27.121-06:00

Beowulf by Unknown My rating: 4 of 5 stars Obviously this is a difficult read, aside from the poem itself. The details of the exact wording the original author (unknown) intended is of course unknowable, but Tolkien, being quite the expert, was attempting to get as close to it as possible. His difficulty arose from having to attempt to translate what the scribe

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22604210.post-82907589465953156352014-09-12T03:18:00.001-05:002014-09-12T03:18:19.693-05:00

Saga, Volume 2 by Brian K. Vaughan My rating: 3 of 5 stars I'm enjoying this series, but I'm also wondering why it's supposed to be so "ground-breaking" and original. As I said about the first, there's nothing particularly wrong with it, but it's only original if you're unaware of earlier sci-fantasy (notable examples are the worlds of Warhammer 40k and Shadowrun,

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22604210.post-21534383015979583272014-09-08T03:04:00.001-05:002014-09-08T03:04:59.190-05:00

Horns by Joe Hill My rating: 5 of 5 stars Wow, I have to give it to Joe Hill. That was an excellent story. I like that there was no mention of why this thing occurred, although one is free to interpret the story as they wish. Quite a lovely ending too. Hill is not yet what I'd call a master wordsmith, although he can manage some nice turns of phrase, but I feel he'll

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22604210.post-58788355717202602352014-06-30T04:08:00.001-05:002014-06-30T04:08:54.883-05:00

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers My rating: 2 of 5 stars Well, whatever literary virtue there was to this book was severely undermined by the pretentiousness and self-centeredness of the author. I can understand that this was sort of a stream of consciousness narration of how the author dealt with the deaths of his parents (which occurred at a

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22604210.post-69168187748137005742014-04-07T22:37:00.001-05:002014-04-07T22:37:58.219-05:00

The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters My rating: 3 of 5 stars Pretty good. The mystery was not the most intriguing, but it wasn't ever meant to be anything out of the bounds of normal human behavior. The setting with the end of the world imminent creates a more memorable backdrop, but other than as set dressing it serves little purpose. Of course that's not to say that

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22604210.post-70891938109246497662014-03-22T15:53:00.001-05:002014-03-22T15:53:04.895-05:00

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba My rating: 4 of 5 stars Great story. Pretty well written, although it's a bit scattershot, but that's ok. I loved the technical aspects of his work, although I understand maybe not everyone will because not everyone is fascinated by electronics and electricity like the author is (and like I am). I would recommend this

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22604210.post-8748555149233536802013-12-25T01:52:00.001-06:002013-12-25T01:52:44.876-06:00

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks My rating: 4 of 5 stars Interesting. More of a social commentary than a novel, it's a bunch of short stories tied together by the device of the "author" being someone travelling around talking to survivors after the outbreak is controlled. It's not just an exploration of human nature but of the successes and

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22604210.post-74918180282456718142013-05-24T10:14:00.001-05:002013-05-24T10:14:23.492-05:00

Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson My rating: 3 of 5 stars Man, Steven Erikson writes some really, really bad prose. Also some of his passages where he's trying to express character's emotions are either laughable or just too terrible to laugh at. That being said, that's not the case most of the time, nor does it make the book not worth reading. It just severely

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22604210.post-71671851457062857742013-04-11T06:12:00.001-05:002013-04-11T06:12:40.767-05:00

The Kassa Gambit by M.C. Planck My rating: 3 of 5 stars It was a good story, but not outstanding. Worth reading because it's so easy, but the revelation at the end is rather anti-climactic, and it's all rather rushed. The characters don't feel entirely natural either. Maybe it's that they're too anti-stereotypical to feel very real. I'd read more by this author, but

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22604210.post-77021748338816198262013-03-15T06:18:00.001-05:002013-03-15T06:18:59.378-05:00

Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson My rating: 3 of 5 stars Well, I liked it, but I find it far from the incredibly mind-blowing fantasy I'd been led to believe. The world-building aspect was nice, but the fact that the author just starts throwing elements at you with no explanation isn't nice. Erikson takes it to crazy levels of "just roll with it". You have no idea

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22604210.post-68402793924918211872013-01-31T04:18:00.001-06:002013-01-31T04:18:13.995-06:00

This Book Is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don’t Touch It by David Wong My rating: 4 of 5 stars Wow, that was far beyond what I was expecting. I liked [b:John Dies at the End|1857440|John Dies at the End (John Dies at the End, #1)|David Wong|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1189289716s/1857440.jpg|1858059] quite a bit, but felt it under-capitalized on its potential.

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22604210.post-58111376003349169062013-01-29T05:48:00.001-06:002013-01-29T05:48:08.122-06:00

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion My rating: 3 of 5 stars Well, it's an interesting experience. I thought the writing was great and I know this author has some serious potential. However, the book is irretrievably stupid. The plot doesn't make any sense at all, which I guess is ok if it's more of a character story, but this isn't really a character story. I hope the author

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22604210.post-25245486895848124382012-08-13T01:57:00.001-05:002012-08-13T02:10:31.328-05:00

Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America by Robert Charles Wilson My rating: 4 of 5 stars This was an unexpectedly good book. I picked this up mainly because of the author's other works like Spin and Darwinia: A Novel of a Very Different Twentieth Century , both of which are astoundingly original and well-written. This book didn't sound as interesting as either of those. I'm not

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22604210.post-80755480212057253732012-06-21T02:26:00.001-05:002012-06-21T02:26:42.427-05:00

The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett My rating: 4 of 5 stars Well that was really good. Much improved from the first book, and much more in the style of the later Discworld books. I enjoyed it thoroughly! View all my reviews

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22604210.post-18375305895228029602012-06-18T04:22:00.001-05:002012-06-18T04:22:59.431-05:00

The Warlord of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs My rating: 3 of 5 stars This one is still enjoyable, but it does drag a little, as nothing substantially new occurs in it. It follows the formula established in the first two books of John Carter again and again falling victim to some nefarious evil-doer (in this case two characters carried over from the last book). Tales of

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22604210.post-52073773118930078002012-06-08T06:21:00.001-05:002012-06-08T06:21:51.088-05:00

Reamde by Neal Stephenson My rating: 4 of 5 stars Truly a good book. I haven't read all of Stephenson's works, but I was worried that the newer his books were, the slower they moved along. Snow Crash remains the fastest-paced of his novels, but Reamde certainly picks up the pace compared to later releases like Anathem. This is one of the most interesting books I've

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22604210.post-46406259170140665202012-06-07T04:20:00.001-05:002012-06-07T04:20:40.366-05:00

The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs My rating: 4 of 5 stars Man, what an adventure! This book resumes the story of John Carter ten years later, as he is once again magically (not really) transported to Mars. After that, this book is one of the fastest-paced reads I've ever had! Carter returns only to discover the terrible secret that has lain at the heart of

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22604210.post-16128944395935071922012-06-04T04:08:00.001-05:002012-06-04T04:08:31.293-05:00

Singularity Sky by Charles Stross My rating: 0 of 5 stars This book, like many sci-fi books, has an interesting idea and tries to do too much by building a book around it. The central plot is that an alien intelligence comes to a world which is deliberately trapped in an arrested state where the aristocracy rules over a land of peasants and the economy is mostly

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22604210.post-65057813359978416242012-05-11T09:52:00.001-05:002012-05-11T09:52:18.753-05:00

A Walking Tour of the Shambles by Neil Gaiman My rating: 3 of 5 stars This is a very short book, and was actually co-written by Neil Gaiman and Gene Wolfe (whom Gaiman has often declared himself a fan of). It purports to be a walking tour of an area known as "The Shambles", which is a fictional neighborhood in Chicago (where Wolfe lives) and obviously is the site of

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22604210.post-50700368460518018922012-05-10T19:43:00.001-05:002012-05-10T19:54:15.917-05:00

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson My rating: 5 of 5 stars What a truly amazing book! It's a futuristic thriller, written by a novelist with a stunning power of imagination. Unlike some of his later books, this one is fast-paced, almost to the point where too much is happening at once. One of the things I really loved about this book is that the baddest bad guy is an Aleut. It's rare to have an

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22604210.post-27560033207137664112012-04-30T08:52:00.001-05:002012-05-10T19:54:30.189-05:00

Old Nathan by David Drake My rating: 3 of 5 stars Pretty good. I like the way David Drake writes, but the Tennessean dialect as written really annoyed me. People talking that way doesn't bother me, but it's so unnatural to read it that it made it hard to concentrate. Drake fans should read it, as should anyone who likes reading about magic but in a more realistic setting. View all my

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22604210.post-32579799407219735462012-04-20T06:19:00.001-05:002012-05-10T19:54:50.940-05:00

Bios by Robert Charles Wilson My rating: 3 of 5 stars Like many sci-fi stories, this one was based around a single concept (which I can't really talk about or it'll spoil the book). There's not really anything wrong with that, but it does tend to make the characters' stories less compelling. In such a short book it's hard to to really work up much emotional connection to the characters,

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22604210.post-75969458974848020652012-04-20T00:56:00.001-05:002012-05-10T19:55:33.659-05:00

The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy My rating: 4 of 5 stars Well, that was a sad story. Folks who really can't stand to read books where people don't come away happier in the end than at the beginning probably shouldn't read this one. I still liked it. McCarthy's writing was still powerful and vivid, but there was a lot more concern for the actual story in this than there was in All the Pretty

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22604210.post-39557790218623976472012-04-17T06:22:00.001-05:002012-05-10T19:58:09.643-05:00

Run Toward the Nightland; Magic of the Oklahoma Cherokees by Jack Frederick Kilpatrick My rating: 3 of 5 stars Pretty interesting stuff. He included the texts of many incantations and the music of some which were to be sung. His notation system for the Cherokee language leaves something to be desired, as there's no pronunciation guide provided with this book. I suppose the author presumed

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0