I've collected books my entire life, and now have a house buckling under their weight.  If I find a new author that I really enjoy (see below), I tend to order that author's entire backlist.  These sites have helped me over the years, and are supplied here to help you in building your library.

• www.Abebooks.com  My favorite used book site.

• www.Amazon.com  If you haven't heard of Amazon, climb out from under the rock you've been hiding under!  As they've now partnered with www.Bibliofind.com, this site will help you concurrently look for new and used copies of your favorite authors.

• www.BarnesAndNoble.com  Probably the next best-known online seller next to Amazon.

• www.Bookfinder.com  This is a great site that aggregates many of the others out there.

• www.Bookshop.Blackwell.co.uk  This is a U.K. site that will help you find those hard-to-get European imprints.

• www.Half.com  This site is brought to you by eBay, and I have found it especially useful in filling out my paperback libraries.

• www.Tomfolio.com  This is a coop site of used book dealers, and I have had success in locating harder-to-find copies here.

I am generally reading a few books at the same time, and plan to update this section every now and then with my present perceptions.  The links will take you to Amazon in case you wish to order.  My buddy Jason has set up a new website to contain his reviews, and I'll be adding mine as well - www.WordsForWords.com. 

• The Non-Runners Marathon Trainer by David Whitsett et al:  My fitness club offered a class taught by a friend and coworker, and I decided that I needed a challenge in 2008!  Running 26.2 miles seemed to be a mental and physical goal worthy of exploration, and this book helps train for both elements.

The resolution to read 100 books in 2007 fell quite short, but I'll attempt it again in 2008.  If you're interested, you can review my 2005, 2006, and 2007 reading lists by clicking on the year.  I will track my 2008 reading below, and as always, you can click on the link to find the book on Amazon.  Happy reading!

• The Appeal by John Grisham:  For the first 40 pages, I felt like I had read this story before, as the case being tried echoed that within A Civil Action.  Indeed, there were times I could have substituted a few names and it would have read like the earlier book.  After this point, however, the case becomes a background issue, eclipsed by a story of big business attempting to buy a seat on the Mississippi Supreme Court in an effort to shut down large verdicts.  Several cabals of business leaders manage to find a candidate to support and finance a campaign that preys upon the typical devices of election time (guns, same-sex marriage, trial lawyers) and labeling sitting judges as being against the common man.  The characters in this story are relatively flat, but the plot is one that lurks just at the edge of reality, as we've seen this type of campaigning in recent Ohio Supreme Court elections. (02-02-08)

• Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie:  I read the first in this trilogy ("The Blade Itself") and was quite pleased when this follow-up became available earlier in March.  The inquisitor-torturer Glotka returns, sent by the Arch Lector to defend Dagoska from the Gurkish, equipped with no funds and the contempt of the local council.  Bayaz continues with with his quest, accompanied by the named man Ninefingers, the she-devil Ferro, and Jezal.  Threetrees, Tul, Grim, and Dogman have joined with the army to help repel the Northman, accompanied by Prince Ladisla, a man completely adored by himself and of no use whatsoever in battle.  The author does a fantastic job creating a character-driven story, and although I've never been a fan of fantasy, it is very difficult to put there books down.  These are just great stories, and there are times where I found myself lost in the scenes that were being painted for me.  I've just started "The Last Argument of Kings," the last book of the trilogy and due to be published in the U.S. in 2009 (check www.Amazon.co.uk  in the meantime).  (03-26-08) 

• Between the Lines by Jessica Page Morrell:  On a recent Sunday morning visit to Borders, I felt that I needed inspiration to get my writing going.  Although I have a stack of writing books at home, this one jumped off the shelf at me, and I actually enjoyed reading it (versus feeling like I had to push through).  The author uses examples of good writing in both popular novels and movies to help drive home concepts, and I found myself revisiting some of the words that I've already put down.  The advice in this book is probably best applied between the first and second drafts, as thinking about these concepts might interrupt the initial thought process where the most important thing is to simply get the words to paper.  And, yes, that was a split infinitive, and this sentence starts with a conjunctive. (06-17-08)

• By The Sword by F. Paul Wilson:  Foremost, if you're a fan of Repairman Jack, you'll be looking for this book in November.  If you need a copy sooner, check out www.GauntletPress.com.  The author has again brought a story to a connecting point with a former work, this time touching on his under-appreciated novel "Black Wind."  Jack is employed to find a katana, and is still looking for the pregnant girl Dawn, who is in turn hunted by the Kickers.  In a note at the end of the book, Wilson briefly discusses bringing the Repairman Jack novels to an end after a few more books, and the reader can see some items getting wrapped up and amplified.  This is fast read, but not a good stand-alone book for the unassociated reader - start with The Tomb and move forward!  (06-03-08)

• Charlatan by Pope Brock:  This is the true story of John Brinkley, a medical school dropout who began a practice (despite the lack of a license) dedicated to transplanting goat testicles into men convinced that the surgery would restore their youthful virility.  In reality, this and other "treatments" left many men and women maimed or dead as Brinkley expanded his practice to radio shows dedicated to lining his pockets by preying on mass hysteria and offering immediate solutions.  Regardless, he almost won the Kansas gubernatorial race at one point, somehow gained many supporters, and made millions during the Great Depression of the 1930s.  Dr. Morris Fishbein was his nemesis, an emerging leader in the as-of-yet powerless American Medical Association, and a man dedicated to eliminating the quacks selling patent medications and dangerous gadgets, a man persecuted by part of the medical community that felt he was stealing too much of the spotlight.  The truth in this history makes it an interesting book, and a but haunting when you consider that the quackery has changed, but someone is still making millions on infomercial diets and equipment, and people inject themselves with toxins to fix wrinkles!  (03-12-08)

• Chasing the Dead by Joe Schreiber:  Within the first few pages, the lead characters daughter is taken and the kidnapper is taunting her on the phone, forcing her to revisit a killing in her past.  The entirety of the story takes place in a Ford Expedition on the back roads of New England, with the kidnapper drawing a specific route that the mother must travel, a route that is eventually revealed to bring the dead back to life.  The Ford Expedition becomes a traveling morgue at one point, and the story quickly moves from a run-of-the-mill kidnapping to what could pass as a modern-day Sleepy Hollow piece of folklore.  I enjoyed this book, and finished it in the same day I pulled it off of the shelf!  (01-19-08)

• Criminal Paradise by Steven Thomas:  For a short book, this is a great noir crime novel with good characters and a relatively complex plot.  Robert Rivers has pulled a few robberies with his friend Switch, always planned out in advance.  When they rob the Cow Town restaurant, a box in the safe contains twenty grand and a picture of a young Vietnamese girl.  Switch goes to Vegas to celebrate, and Robert decides to rob the restaurant owner's, a dirtball named McFadden, house with his friend Reggie, a man of questionable loyalties.  While Robert's in McFadden's house, rescuing the girl and liberating some property, McFadden is making some inquiries himself.  A series of strikes take place, and although the story needs some "stupid moments" to work (described to me at a writers' workshop as a plot point completely out of the character's normal modus operandi), it doesn't hurt the overall flow and feel of the story.  I really enjoyed this book, and finished it in a day of reading.  (03-06-08)

• The Domino Men by Jonathan Barnes:  Henry Lamb is a file clerk in a typical office building, hiding from a brief career as a child star on the BBC and his not-so-funny-but-often-repeated punch line, "don't blame me, blame Grandpa."  He finds himself conscripted into the Directorate and an age-old fight against the royal Windsor family, the latter of which is seeking to bring Leviathan into being.  I was pleased to see the Prefects return from Barnes' "Somnambulist," as I enjoyed their wit and (deadly) practical jokes.  This book actually just came out in the U.K. and isn't scheduled for release in the U.S. until 2009 (but Amazon UK will ship it).  Those readers that enjoy Terry Pratchett or Christopher Moore will enjoy this book!  (04-24-08)

• The Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie:  I had intended to delay reading this, as it is the last in the trilogy and I was hoping to force myself into a bit of restraint.  It is, unfortunately, like knowing there's a bag of chips and telling yourself that an apple's healthier...  This is the best fantasy series that I have ever read, and at times transcends the limitations that the genre label sometimes casts.  See "Before They Are Hanged" for a review of the characters, and prepare for things to get very dark in this volume!  There is a race for the throne, and the usual politicking ensues, but Bayaz has a surprise candidate in mind.  In the meantime, Ferro finds her purpose, and a few characters are exposed as being other that what they seem (and that's part of what makes this a great series).  Logan Ninefingers is a significant character is this book, and not always for good reasons.  I loved this book, and am sorry to see the series end!  (04-10-08)

• The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw by Bruce Barcott:  As a parrot owner (or as one owned by a parrot), this title jumped off the table at Borders.  This book tells the story of a dam project in Belize that threatens to wipe out the last natural habitat of this beautiful bird.  Sharon Matola, nicknamed the Zoo Lady for her creation and operation of the Belize Zoo, spearheaded a movement to block the dam and its negative impact on the jungle environment, but faced government corruption at every step along the way.  The author describes the graft inside the Belizean government, the false environmental impact statements, and the pressure tactics undertaken (including the attempt to locate a landfill directly next to the zoo) to silence what the government termed an ecolonialist, a "outsider" attempting to overrule sovereign law.  This is a fantastic, and unfortunately true, story of a government knowingly seeking to move public money into private pockets with absolute disregard for the people or the environment.  Anyone interested in parrots or the environment will enjoy this book.  (02-23-08)

• The Law of Second Chances by James Sheehan:  I sometimes have difficulty criticizing a book, as anyone that has taken the time to put down 60,000 words demands some respect.  Based on the dust jacket, I bought this book, but was quickly weary of the never-ending flashback to the main character's youth and a plot that was never really reached until halfway through its pages.  Tobin is a retired lawyer that has taken up a criminal case for the son of an old friend, and it wouldn't be much of a story if there wasn't some type of conspiracy in the background.  The plot never really grabbed me - I never believed that it could happen as written.  Too much of this story seems to exist only to help the plot along, and I was extremely disappointed by the appearance of a young woman in Tobin's life (spoiler alert - yes - Molly is exactly who you think she is).  I wasn't captivated by this story at all - just too much of it was the basic legal fiction outline, and the balance just didn't click for me.  (04-17-08)

• Making Your Case:  The Art of Persuading Judges by Antonin Scalia and Bryan A. Garner:  After reading an excerpt of this book in the ABA Journal, I knew I need to have this book.  Mr. Garner is the present editor of Black's Law Dictionary, and Justice Scalia is, perhaps, the most eloquent writer on the Supreme Court.  Much of the advice in this book isn't new, but it is relevant and pulled together well in this volume.  Even though I'm not in practice, the material can be easily applied to business writing and any meeting with colleagues and customers.  I definitely recommend this book to anyone practicing law, and anyone (like me) that loves the law but makes a career elsewhere.  (05-30-08).

• Napoleon's Pyramids by William Dietrich:  Sometimes a stretch of imagination becomes a great adventure story, and this is one of those cases.  Ethan Gage, an American apprentice of Ben Franklin, wins a medallion in a card game in France, and within twenty pages is pursued by the Egyptian Rite and framed for a prostitute's murder.  His friend, a journalist, finds him passage as a savant on Napoleon's 1798 Egyptian invasion to temporarily escape criminal charges, and en route to the ship, is saved from a coach attack by a band of gypsies and an English spy.  Once in Egypt, Gage enslaves, and eventually befriends, two others in battle, and the trio seek the secret of Thoth across the desert, pursued by a madman assassin, the Egyptian Rite, and Napoleon's army.  I greatly enjoyed this book, and was thrilled by an ending that tells me that I'll see these characters again!  (02-15-08)

• The Next Justice by Christopher Eisgruber:  This was my first Supreme Court book of the year, and it was a good choice.  Instead of reviewing the history of the Court and many of its better-known cases, the author discusses the appointment process for the justices.  Starting with the president's decision to pursue an ideological-similar individual that will face a more difficult confirmation, or a moderate that may have an easier path, the author then steers the discussion to the hearing itself.  Therein, the Senators ask questions that are themselves often without clear meaning (e.g., what is your judicial philosophy?) and the judicial candidates offer responses that actually answer nothing at all.  The author emphasizes that the Senators have a right to real answers, and the right to deny confirmation to those that do not wish to disclose.  At the same time, Eisgruber suggests questions that may offer a better glance at the jurist, and perhaps a thinner opportunity for dodging.  Great book.  (03-01-08)

• Nothing to Lose by Lee Child:  This was my first novel with this author, and so my first experience with the character Jack Reacher.  This is the latest in the series, the 12th book, so I've missed quite a bit of back story but this book reads well on its oown as well.  Jack, a wandering former military man, passes through the town of Hope and continues walking the 17 miles to the neighboring town of Despair.  While in the latter, he is jailed by the local deputies and returned to the town line of the former.  Reacher, having no better place to be, gets involved in finding out what is going on in Despair that makes its police force so efficient at prosecuting "vagrants."  I enjoyed the plot, although there were a few moments when the bad guys seem to inexplicably act a bit out of character to continue the story.  I will be going back to the first book now so I can catch up with Reacher's history.  (06-18-08)

• Obedience by Will Lavender:  I know this story, and you will as well if you choose to pick up the book.  It starts out rather interestingly with a mysterious logic professor at an Indiana University teaching the course with a case study centered on a missing girl that will be murdered if not found by the end of the six-week term.  Certainly this requires the reader to suspend disbelief and accept that this exercise has anything to do with a logic class, and the reader probably shouldn't question the six-week term either.  Regardless, the story begins to weave the case study with the actual disappearance of a girl some twenty years earlier, and many of those involved seem cross between fiction and reality.  For the lead characters, this confusion (and indeed, there will be confusion for the reader as well) causes predictable dysfunction in the final pages.  The story starts strongly, but diminishes as the author forces the result, and I figured out where it was going very early in.  (02-24-08)

• Odd Hours by Dean Koontz:  Once again Odd has found trouble where it isn't expected to be - in the California town of Magic Beach where a handshake just a few pages into the story prompts Odd to dive off a pier and hide from the Harbor Patrol.  Accompanied by the ghost of Frank Sinatra, Odd thwarts a terrorist attack in a plot that is somewhat attenuated but still interesting.  Like all of Koontz' recent books, this can be read in a day or two, is entertaining enough, but is ultimately not great literature.  Still, if you're looking for a great summer or weekend read, this is a book for you!  (05-22-08)

• The Party of the First Part by Adam Freedman:  After nearly 600 pages of Schulz, I needed something thinner!  This book examines legalese and the need to use plain English in its place.  It is a pretty basic book, touching on quite a few legal terms of art including a fair bit of "created" Latin phrases that are actually modern-day words made to appear as if they are Latin in origin.  The is a certain sense to the Plain English movement, people should understand what they are reading and signing, but as a lawyer myself, I love the elegance of legal prose, fictitious dead languages included!  (01-18-08)

• The Rosetta Key by William Dietrich:  I was excited to be rejoining Ethan Gage in this sequel to "Napoleon's Pyramids!"  An American adventurer, student of Ben Franklin, and accused murderer finds himself still seeking the book of Thoth and his lover Astiza, this time to Jerusalem and Napolean's Battle of Acre.  Gage is a man of many lives, and he spends many of them in this book as he jumps between the English and the French, never with any more committed thought than survival, his friends, and keeping the book out of the wrong hands.  This book is a guilty pleasure, some actual history mixed with a great bit of fiction and great storytelling - a good book for a summer weekend.  (05-08-08)

• Schulz and Peanuts by David Michaelis:  FINALLY!  I started this book on New Year's Eve, and am so happy to be done with it!  572 pages before an additional 80 of source notes and indices - I'm fairly certain I could go back an find what Mr. Schulz had for breakfast on any random day in 1959.  With that said. this was a very good book about a very complex man.  Charles Schulz drew over 17,000 comics in his 50 year career and created the characters that have come to mean so much to so many.  Yet, he was constantly baffled by the attention he felt was unwarranted, and never felt that he had created a cartoon strip for children, but rather a strip about adults in children's' bodies.  It was interesting to read about his clumsiness in relationships, and the way he incorporated events in his life, even hinting at an affair he was involved in at the time.  Schulz had a major social impact and created an empire, yet he appeared never at peace with the world.  This book made me appreciate the strip even more, as I can see how much Schulz sacrificed for his art.  It'll take a week or two, but read this book.  (01-13-08)

• Secret Histories by F. Paul Wilson:  Okay, this is technically written for teens, but as it returns to the boyhood days of one of my favorite fictional characters, Repairman Jack, I had to buy it.  And heck, it still counts as a 2008 book!  It never dawned on me that Jack was a teenager in the early eighties, and I recognized quite a few of the cultural influences from my own teen years.  The author did a fine job of showing Jack's background before even Jack knew what was in store, and managed to introduce a bit of the paranormal that follows Jack through life.  This was a fun read and a good story while I wait for this June's next Repairman Jack novel.  (02-23-08)  

• Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman:  The author started his career locally, and came of age in the same rock-inspired environment that I enjoyed.  His stories are sometimes tedious, okay often tedious, but I still enjoy the few "I remember that!" moments as I read through various cultural events of my early twenties. The balance of the commentaries read more like personal rants that you might find on any blogging site, not especially witty or good.   This almost made the "back on the shelf" list, but I forced myself to finish it.  You'd be better served not even starting...  (05-01-08)

• The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes:  This was quite an entertaining read, and very difficult to classify.  The Somnambulist is an eight-foot man with a passion for milk and the uncanny ability to have swords poked through him without harm.  Mr. Edward Moon is his partner, a theatric conjurer and investigator of crimes.  This story is ripe with fantastic characters, the narrator among them (unknown until the end, he/she promises that most of the book will not be lies), and the plot includes a late-1800s religious cult and a bit of supernatural intervention (Mr. Thomas Cribb claims to pass his life in reverse time, and the Prefects are demon-like assassins in school boy uniforms).  I was enthralled and amused by the story, and finished the book inside of 48 hours.  I'd highly recommend!  (03-03-08)

• Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris:  I don't know if I liked this book.  At times, it was funny and the characters in the book are the people we see for eight hours a day with all the usual quirks and dysfunctions.  The story is centered on a troubled advertising agency in Chicago that is rapidly running out of work and dismissing staff members.  The employees are preoccupied with claiming the left behind furniture and trinkets of their departed colleagues, and frankly, it's just not funny or dramatic.  It just is.  It is difficult to classify this book, and as I neared the end, I realized that the few moments of humor or excitement were vastly outweighed by the mundane.  There are better books out there.  (02-06-08)

• Vicious Circle by Mike Carey:  Aha, you're saying, this book doesn't come out until July!  True, but even its sequel is available in the U.K. presently, and I couldn't wait.  This is a familiar theme this year!  This book rejoins Felix Castor, an exorcist in a society where Parliament is debating the rights of the dead, but he finds himself in quasi-partnership with the succubi Juliet that attempted to -- ahem -- eat him in "The Devil You Know." As odd as it sounds, this was actually a well-crafted story wherein both a group of Satanists and a fringe group of the Catholic Church (assisted by were-persons) are seeking the ghost of a little girl, one intent on feeding her as a sacrifice to Asmodeus, the other on excommunicating her to close the door to Hell.  A dark outline, to be certain, but the characters carry the story with a bit of wit, and the author has crafted a great book.  (05-20-08)

• The Wit and Wisdom of Discworld by Terry Prachett:  This is a fantastic book containing quotes out of Pratchett's Discworld series, and the author is a true master of sarcastic wit.  I've always enjoyed his characters, and I've read several of the books quoted within this tome, but I couldn't pass up a collection of his finest wordplay.  For example, "The speaker was Duke Vassenego, one of the oldest demons.  How old, no one knew.  But if he didn't actually invent original sin, at least he made one of the first copies."  So much better than "he was really old," yes?  This book will force the reader to laugh out loud, and there are some jokes that may not sink in until four pages later.  This is a great introduction to Pratchett's world, and is a great weekend read.  (01-26-08)

Sometimes you just can't get into a book, not necessarily because it's a bad plot etc., but simply because the timing isn't quite right.  These are those stories...

• Stay tuned - the year's just getting started!

My tastes in reading are rather eclectic, but I have many favorites.  Here are a few authors that you'll be well-advised to check out.  The links will take you to the author's official website, where one exists.

• Douglas Adams:  Twenty-five years ago, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was authored for a BBC radio series and it has become a classic.  You can find both the radio scripts and the five books of the trilogy (yes, five books in the trilogy) on most of the search engines above.  The story highlights the trials of Arthur Dent as the earth is destroyed and he becomes an inter-galactic traveler through a series of bizarre adventures.  Mr. Adams unfortunately passed away several years ago, but left a legacy in his stories.

• Joseph Finder:  Paranoia is an excellent read about corporate espionage with an unexpected conclusion.  High Crimes (also a movie with Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd) is a favorite as well.

• John Grisham:  For those that enjoy there legal fiction with characters and situations outside of the typical body-trial-conclusion storyline, Mr. Grisham always delivers.

• Harry Harrison:  Start with "The Stainless Steel Rat."  Mr. Harrison is a prolific writer of science fiction reaching back into the 1960s, often wrapping a wry sense of humor into traditionally sci-fi situations.

• Greg Iles:  I picked up The Quiet Game in an airport bookshop last year, read most of it on the flight, and ordered the backlist as soon as I got home. 

• Dean Koontz:  As noted above, Life Expectancy was quite good.  My favorites, however, remain Lightning and Shadowfires.

• Bentley Little:  Pick any of his novels for a disturbing read.  Mr. Little is able to take any location or event and make a truly strange story out of it.  Given my personal animosity against a certain large chain of department store with a reputation for interrupting the commerce of small towns, I recommend The Store as your first book.  Unfortunately, there is no official website.

• Robert McCammon:  I have always enjoyed this author, who unfortunately stopped writing for nearly a decade.  Speaks the Nightbird was well worth the wait, however, and is a great novel set during the witch trial era.  When you've finished this book, find a copy of Swan's Song, McCammon's end-of-the-world epic, and Boy's Life.

• F. Paul Wilson:  The Repairman Jack novels are an interesting mix of quasi-detective and the supernatural, as Jack is a fix-it man who regularly has run-ins with other worlds.  Mr. Wilson's novels quite often cross over and through each other, and it is quite interesting to run across characters and events that you've seen before.  Start with The Tomb.