Words for Words

Battle Royale–Koushun Takami

2012-02-18T08:36:00.001-05:00

I've read great things about this book so it when it finally arrived in my mailbox, it jumped to the top of my reading pile and I dove right into it. The concept is a totalitarian government rules in the Far East while never really stated I imagine something along Japan winning WW2 and controlling of Japan, Korea and China with a communist style government along the lines of a wealth and more powerful North Korea of our world. Each year several junior high classes are chosen, taken to a remote island, given random weapons and ordered to kill each other under pain of death if they don't. Even though the "Program" as it's called was explained, I never really got the reasons behind it, but that may just have been lost in the translation or perhaps just in my own understanding.

This book follows one such class. It starts off quickly and not too many chapters in the killing has begun. At first it was really quite disturbing to think this was being done to 14-15 year olds. I have children that age, and I could imagine them being put into those positions and I struggled with that. But as I read through it, the brutality, while still there, really became second nature to exploring the psychological aspects of the game and how different students react and try to survive (or don’t). A very interesting yet brutal look into the reactions of youngsters under extreme stress and in a kill or be killed situation.

Well done novel, if you’re initially disturbed by the subject matter, stick with it as it becomes secondary to the true story being told. Well done.

Guide Book for the Tourist and Traveler Over the Valley Railway, 1880 - John S. Reese

2012-02-17T21:34:00.001-05:00

This was a great book, originally published as a guidebook for those riding the Valley Railway from Cleveland to Canton in 1880. Although it has a modern introduction, this is the original 130-year-old text describing each of the towns and cities along the way. The book is filled with advertisements from the age, which were just as entertaining as the balance. There are no photographs, but there are engravings that provide visuals to many of the descriptions. For anyone with an interest in the Cleveland-Akron-Canton corridor, this is a fun read.

Hilarity Ensues - Tucker Max

2012-02-17T20:55:00.001-05:00

Honestly, I always feel a bit guilty admitting that I enjoy these stories, as there's really nothing redeeming here, but I comfort myself by remembering that these are adults making stupid choices of their own free will. This was an interesting book as well, as at the conclusion, the author notes that it is his last in the fratire genre that he invented. Some of these stories remind me of my roommates in college and parties that I stood at the fringe of. This book had a bit of melancholy underlying the debauchery, as Tucker is looking back on stories from his back-half of his thirties. As with his others, this collection may offend many, but the writing is actually entertaining.

The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger

2012-02-05T21:21:00.000-05:00

Alright, I know that this is a modern classic, and I know I'll catch some grief for saying this, but I don't get it. Holden Caulfield is a sixteen-year-old who flunks out of his fourth prep school, and instead of going home right away, he decides to spend a few days in New York City by himself. This is one of those novels that I'm certain that English Lit teachers love to focus upon, undoubtedly finding symbolism at every turn. This type of analysis always bothered me back in high school, as sometimes a story was just that, a story. Holden is a cynic, a few years older than his age would otherwise disclose, and perhaps a bit of a romantic as well. It's an okay story - kid goes to NYC, has a few drinks, smokes a bit, hires a prostitute for conversation, and otherwise bumbles about the city. I wanted more - I wanted obvious insight, but found little here but entertainment.

Black Order - James Rollins

2012-02-04T08:37:00.001-05:00

Here is my first real good read of the year. I'm no stranger to James Rollins and I've enjoyed his books in the past. I've picked up most of his novels and they are awaiting me to pick them up. Since I don't like to read the same author back to back, my trek through his Sigma Force novels is slowly progressing, but that is no indication of how much I enjoy them. Rollins has a way to suck you into the story without you realizing. His stories bring enough fantasy in, but when that mixes with his historical aspects, the fantasy almost seems like it could really be true. It is always fun to read the author's notes at the end to see what was fact and what was fiction and I'm often surprised. Great book, great series, great author. Recommend highly!

The Black Jewels Trilogy - Anne Bishop

2012-02-04T08:31:00.001-05:00

I was so looking forward to reading this one. It had sat on my shelf for a year or so before I finally decided to pull it off and read it. I started this one last December thinking it would be a good epic fantasy to carry me through the winter. I pushed and pushed through it longer than I should have and 228 pages in, I threw in the towel. I have read other reviews of this trilogy that said it starts off slow and confusing, but is worth pushing through as it gets better as time moves on. Well, perhaps it does, but I feel I've already wasted too much time on this and there are too many other good books to spend my time on, so I've moved on. I'm sure this actually is a good trilogy and I truly am disappointed in myself for not liking it more, so if you have an inclination to try this one on for size, go for it, many others have liked it much more than I.

Taken - Robert Crais

2012-01-30T23:27:00.001-05:00

This author became one of my favorites last year, and I have been eagerly awaiting this novel. Elvis Cole is hired to find a missing college girl and her boyfriend, and ends up being taken by the same human traffickers who hold their hostages alive only until their relatives can't pay anymore. Although the reader knows from the first page that Cole will be taken, the event itself is still nicely magnified by the author. In an understated way, this novel really investigates the friendship between Joe Pike and Cole, as Pike mounts an offensive with another colleague, Jon Stone. The action is most definitely there, but Crais has done something even more significant with the final pages of the book, after the guns are silent and the hostages are safe. My only regret - another year of waiting started as soon as I finished reading!

Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

2012-01-27T20:34:00.001-05:00

In the afterword, the author mentions that it cost $9.80 in 1950 to write this novel, renting a typewriter one dime at a time. The result of those dimes is a classic story about censorship - "firemen" who start fires in the homes of anyone thought to be harboring a book. Guy Montag is one of those firemen, but early in the novel he has a rush of conscience brought to him by his seventeen-year-old neighbor Clarisse. After Guy sees one woman burn to death atop her library, and after Clarisse goes missing, Montag strikes back against the establishment. I have always enjoyed Bradbury, and this book works just as well more than sixty years after it was written.

Five Chiefs: A Supreme Court Memoir - John Paul Stevens

2012-01-25T22:06:00.000-05:00

Justice Stevens served on the Supreme Court for 35 years, retiring in 2010, and this book is a different type of autobiography. Stevens traces his interactions with five Chief Justices - Vinson, Warren, Burger, Rehnquist, and Roberts - and offers highlights and thoughts on many opinions handed down through those Courts. It was an interesting read that wasn't written entirely in legalese, and at times offered real insight on how key opinions came to be. There was one section that made me chuckle, as Stevens spent the better part of two pages complaining how a few Justices moved a table without everyone's approval. Apparently those petty coworker issues exist everywhere, even in the highest court in the U.S.

Mission Flats - William Landay

2012-01-25T22:02:00.000-05:00

I am in awe of this author's ability, having read an ARC of "Defending Jacob" a few months ago (it will be released on January 31st, and already has several awards awaiting its release). This is his first novel, and is absolutely brilliant. Ben Turman is a small-town cop who is brought into a major case when a Boston DA is found murdered in a nearby cabin. Truman travels to Boston to work with the police of Mission Flats and the local prosecutor. There are several back stories, some of which didn't seem important when I first contemplated them, but by the end of the book, everything came together in ways that I had not anticipated. I thought that I had this figured out several times, and I'm happy to say that I had it wrong. There is a bit of deceit on behalf of Truman as he fulfills his dual role as main character and narrator, but it is a satisfying deceit. Mr. Landay is destined to reach the top of every literary list, and that placement is well-deserved.

Fire in the Hole - Elmore Leonard

2012-01-15T12:54:00.001-05:00

I enjoy the FX series Justified and finished a short story collection by this author last year. This is another of those collections, featuring Raylan Givens, Carl Webster, and Karen Sisco in a series of crime-focused short stories. Some are entertaining, but honestly, none of the stories really grabbed me. One is basically the first episode from Justified, with a necessarily-different ending. I have several novels by Mr. Leonard sitting on my shelf, waiting to be read in 2012, but they may wait a bit longer while I seek out more stimulating novels.

To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

2012-01-14T12:20:00.000-05:00

One of my resolutions this year is to work in a few of the classics, and my first choice was this novel. Atticus Finch is a constant reference throughout law school, and somehow I have never read the book before now. I now understand the world's fascination with Harper Lee and her only novel - it was phenomenal! The story follows Scout, a somewhat precocious young girl as she puzzles over a reclusive neighbor and the social niceties of the 1930s South. The centerpiece of the novel is the trial of a young black man who has been accused of raping a white woman, and it falls to Atticus to provide for a fair trial in a community where prejudices are very likely to trump fairness. This is the major premise of the book, and the author did a fantastic job, but the overall story and writing were absolutely great as well. I will definitely return to read this book again, as I have definitely added it to my top ten.

Children of Paranoia - Trevor Shane

2012-01-06T20:03:00.001-05:00

The premise here is somewhat strained, as we have two groups living within normal society who are at war with one another, yet no one engaged in the war knows why. As a result, kids are trained from the age of sixteen to begin killing for their side as soon as they turn eighteen. Joe is one of the assassins sent by faceless controllers for his side, and the story is literally told through his point-of-view as jotted down in a journal for his girlfriend Maria, who we meet halfway through the book. Joe doesn't know why he is fighting, which is why I didn't get to know as the reader, but that approach failed to hold me at times - it felt like someone in the book could have simply asked, "wait, wait, WHY are we killing each other again?" As soon as Joe shares the rule that children born to those under the age of eighteen are handed to the other side to raise (yeah, random killing but a solid accord, right?), I was pretty much able to guess where this was going. I was right. It's not a bad story, but as the first in a trilogy, I'm not likely to be a continuing reader.

Dragons of the Hourglass Mage - Weis & Hickman

2012-01-05T08:24:00.000-05:00

So what can I really say about this book. This is not great literature, but I don't expect that from the Dragonlance books. I do expect a fun read and I sort of got that with this book. These Lost Chronicles novels take us to places and events that were glossed over in the main Chronicles series so we get to see some of favorite characters from the past. This novel focuses on one of my favorites in Raistlin. However, I'm not sure this really worked. I knew how it all worked out in the end being familiar with the main story line and I have to admit, the path to get from beginning to that ending just wasn't all that intriguing and I probably could have lived my life happy having never read it. But, with that in mind, I read this novel and it was an easy quick read that doesn't take much effort, so if you enjoy the Dragonlance world, then I'm sure you'll enjoy this.

2011 Reading Recap - Todd

2012-01-02T19:41:00.003-05:00

Alright - 59 books completed in 2011 against the ever-distant goal of 100. The goal is somewhat non-realistic, as it really means I need to finish a book every 3-4 days. That's fine in the cold months - I think I finished four books in the first week of 2011 - but harder when the lawn needs mowed, the office gets demanding, and my own writing is begging for attention.

The shortest book in 2011 - Of Mice and Men at just 100 pages. I'm not certain what the longest was, as I don't track pages read. Like Jason, there were a few books that I put down after they failed to grab me - one of those was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - let the complaint emails commence.

My goal in 2012 is to actually have my own novel ready to pitch by July 1st in time for ThrillerFest, but I'm still going to strive for a high reading count in 2012 as well. I'm setting a goal of 78 books - 1.5 books per week. I do want to focus on a few of the classics this year, but am surrounded by books on my must-ready shortlist as well.

Here's to good reading in this new year!

2011 Reading Recap

2012-01-01T08:06:00.001-05:00

Hard to believe we’re here at the end of another year. Seems like not that long ago I was writing this post to recap 2010. But alas, my parents were correct once again, the older I get the faster the years go.

As always, I’m half as ambitious as my partner here on Words for Words Todd is. He always strives for 100 books and manages to make a good dent into that each year while juggling a busy career and home life with wife and child. My goal for 2011 was to get around the 50 book level. More importantly however I wanted to increase my pages read. But I think most important for me was to increase my enjoyment of the novels I read even if that means failing at the first two goals. Let’s see how I did.

For 2011, I read 32 books down from 51 a year ago. Total pages for 2011, 12546. This was done from 18864 a year ago. On the surface it looks like I may have fallen short of my goals. That may be true for the first two, but did my enjoyment of reading increase in 2011? Well while hard to quantify, I think it did.

One stat I don’t keep track of are books/pages of novels that I start but don’t finish. In 2011, I made a decision that if I was struggling through a book and not enjoying it, it had 100 pages to change my mind. Unfortunately, some did not and they went in the “sell off” pile. There are just too many good books to read to waste that time on something that doesn’t' entertain me.

Perhaps even more unfortunate is the time I spent reading those 100 or so pages to make the determination, time / pages which I didn’t track. In 2012 I’ll be adding a new stat to my yearly report, book and pages which I didn’t finish. I’ll probably even do a quick review on this site of those so that perhaps others can learn from my experience and determine for themselves if the novel is something they want to read or not.

Well on to more interesting stuff. Longest book of the year award goes to, From the Corner of His Eye by Dean Koontz at 729 pages. Shortest book goes to Darkness on the Edge of Town by Brian Keene coming in at just 264 pages. This year I didn’t read too many series, though I did finish up the Poison Study series (Poison Study, Magic Study, and Fire Study) by Maria V. Snyder but mostly just because I enjoyed the books so much I didn’t want to stop. I have a lot of series on the shelf so maybe I’ll pick one or two of them off this year.

New authors that I’ve discovered and enjoyed this year include the previously mentioned Maria V. Snyder. Also really enjoyed Carrie Ryan and her Forest of Hands and Teeth. Looking forward to finishing that series up here in 2012.

Least favorite new author of 2011, well this may be a bit tricky since I didn’t track the books I started and stopped, but of those I’ve read and finished, the award goes to Luis Miguel Rocha and his novel Pope’s Assassin. This was a new author that I will probably not go back and visit and also the winner of the least favorite novel of the year.

Well, what everyone has been waiting for! Most favorite novel of the year. Well I’ve got two really one fiction and one non-fiction. First the favorite fiction award goes to Robert McCammon and his novel Boy’s Life. I’m a bit late to the McCammon table, but this is one book that I’m sure I’ll come back to again. The favorite non-fiction book goes to A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. Not necessarily do I agree with all his conclusions, but this was such an enjoyable read that I was truly sad to see it end.

Well what’s in store for 2012? Well like I mentioned before, I’ll start to track books I’ve started but didn’t finish and put reviews of them up here as well, this should give me a better indication of the amount of reading I truly do. What do I plan on reading this year? Not sure, I’ve got thousands of books on my shelves waiting to be read and I’m sure I’ll get more as the year goes on as I’m a bit addicted to getting new books, but my goal of 2012 is to enjoy my reading more. I’ll still keep stats, but not be driven by them, so in that sense I won’t make a goal of book count nor page count, so my measure of success at the end of this new year, will be did I read the good books and discover quickly enough the bad ones so I could move on. We shall see.

Well wishing everyone here a Happy New Year and good reads. Thanks to those who stumble across our little home here and hope you come back.

God Bless!

Jason

Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

2011-12-31T17:50:00.001-05:00

This is another of the classics that I've wanted to pick up for quite awhile but just never got to. At 100 pages, it is far from a difficult read, and I remembered most of it from my last reading some 25 years ago. The story itself is good as well - George and Lenny taking a job on a ranch after they are run out of another town as a result of Lenny's fascination with petting soft things (in this case, a red dress presently being worn by a young girl). The characters are well-drawn for such a short story, and the dialogue is very realistic. At some point in 2012, I'll pick up "The Grapes of Wrath" but am glad to have gotten this one in under the wire in 2011!

Coronado - Dennis LeHane

2011-12-30T08:35:00.001-05:00

This was an interesting collection of short stories by the author of "Mystic River." The first in the collection, "Running Out of Dog," highlights two Vietnam vets that return to life, one somewhat successfully and the other less so. The title comes from the latter, as his job of sniping free-roaming dogs is cancelled, and still needing something to shoot, he turns elsewhere. The second story is less interesting - a few high school football players trash the house of a teammate that dropped the ball. The third story, and the play that was adapted from it (both in the book), was great. The characters were at once understated yet competently developed. After Bobby is released from prison, his dad picks him up at the gate with a hooker and bottle of Jim Beam. Nothing altruistic in his motives - the dad needs his son to find the diamond he hid just before being shot in the head and going to prison. This was a pretty quick read, but I'll definitely be seeking others by LeHane soon.

The Watchman - Robert Crais

2011-12-28T19:52:00.000-05:00

With the next Joe Pike novel coming out in January, I wanted to read this first book that really focused on Pike as a character beyond Elvis Cole's detective agency. In this book, Pike is called upon to protect a girl who is heavily-based upon a certain hotel heiress, and he does so despite stacked odds and pursuit by bad guys and feds alike. The author really does give some insight behind the sunglasses, and I like the character even more now that he isn't simply an ex-mercenary with tattooed deltoids. I'm still working through this author's backlist, but will have the new Pike novel in my hands on January 24th!

The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

2011-12-28T19:48:00.001-05:00

I last read this book during an AP English class back in 1987, and by "read" I actually mean that I skimmed the Cliff Notes. In retrospect, given that this book is a brief 180 pages, I can only imagine that I was rebelling against being told what to read. Twenty-plus years later, I still remembered the green light on the dock and all of the symbolism that it was meant to contain. Honestly, it's a pretty straight-forward story - new guy in town pines over a lost-love, now married to another guy who is cheating on her, lost-love accidentally kills husband's mistress, and mistress' husband kills new guy in town. It's likely blasphemy to critique Fitzgerald's characters as under-developed, but indeed I found them to be as thin as the book itself. I closed the book slightly dissatisfied, as I had built it up in my mind and felt instead like I'd just watched a movie on the Hallmark channel.

Sorry - Zoran Drvenkar

2011-12-18T18:03:00.000-05:00

The dust jacket caught my attention for this book, and it sat on my shelf only a day or two until I pulled it back off to begin reading. Four friends, each with a deeply-drawn backstory, get together to start an agency to say "Sorry" on behalf of others. It's an odd premise - how likely is it that a company would really hire someone to apologize to a past employee? - but the author makes it work here. The foursome is successful, until they show up at a home for an engagement and find the person to whom they are to apologize nailed to a wall through her forehead. From this point forward, the four friends are being directed by the killer, and although a complex plot, the author does a masterful job of keeping things hidden until the end. For those readers that enjoy a good thriller with well-drawn characters, I can definitely recommend this book!

The Art of War for Writers - James Scott Bell

2011-12-13T20:58:00.002-05:00

I first read this book on writing in 2010, and have been skimming it again over the past two months as I toy with my manuscripts and outlines. This book is well-organized into short but helpful chapters. I am following the advice laid out within several of its pages, and will undoubtedly pull this book back off of the shelf in 2012. I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone trying to start, or finish, a manuscript.

Early Akron's Industrial Valley - Jack Gieck

2011-12-08T20:14:00.000-05:00

For a relatively short book, there was a lot of content included regarding the history of the Cascade Locks in Akron, Ohio. I have always been fascinated with the canal systems in Ohio, and as my office is right across the street from the old canal, I was attracted to this book. My favorite part of this book is the two-page spread at the back that shows a map of the canal area during its height, and another modern day layout to give easy reference points. Although its growing colder now, I'll be pulling this book back off of the shelf in the spring as I walk the towpath and attempt to find some of the artifacts noted in this book.

Haunted Akron - Jeri Holland

2011-12-07T19:04:00.001-05:00

This was a fun book that I picked up because of the cover shot of the Civic Theatre in downtown Akron, blocks from my office. As I flipped through the book, I noticed that it also had a story set in River Styx, near where I'll be building a house in the next year or two. This book offered a mix of history and ghost stories, and was the perfect companion for a two-hour stay in the Baltimore airport.

Cut and Run - Matt Hilton

2011-12-07T19:03:00.001-05:00

I'm a fan of Joe Hunter. The plot here wasn't terribly complex - all of the members of Joe's old unit involved with a past mission are being killed along with their families, and Joe is looking to rectify an old mistake by going after the murderer. Along the way, Joe finds himself doing battle with a contract killer with a fondness for brutalizing women. There is a lot of violence and a high body count in this novel, but if you've picked up a book featuring an ex-Special Forces mercenary, it's likely that you're expecting both. Hunter is a less-pensive Jack Reacher, and a new favorite.