Books & Writing

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!  If you can't find it here, try the UK site as well - www.amazon.uk.com

• 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.Overstock.com  I haven't ordered from overstock, but have had it recommended by a faithful reader.

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

The resolution to read 100 books in 2009 fell quite short (only 58), but I'll attempt it again in 2010.  If you're interested, you can review my 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 reading lists by clicking on the year.  I will track my 2010 reading below and on www.WordsForWords.com, and as always, you can click on the link to find the book on Amazon.  Happy reading!

• Altar of Eden by James Rollins:  My first book of 2010 - 99 more to go.  I've liked Rollins for several years, and after a few Sigma Force books, this was his return to a stand-alone novel (and his second book in 2009).  Admittedly, through the first quarter, I was really concerned that the heroine was going to be chasing a saber-toothed tiger for the balance of the book - happily this wasn't the case.  Dr. Lorna Polk is a veterinarian at ACRES, and is called to check out animals found in a boat washed up by a Louisiana hurricane.  Every animal shows a regression to a point earlier in its evolution, a fact that the sponsoring organization wants to cover up with a scorched earth policy.  There is a point in the last half where I felt like I had fallen into Jurassic Park given a remote island housing DNA-tinkering scientists and a host of living fossils.  In all, an entertaining book, and exactly what I need on a cold weekend in Ohio.  (01-05-10)

• Blacklands by Belinda Bauer:  I loved this book!  The story itself is quite good - a 12-year-old boy, Stephen,  tries to mend his broken family by finding the resting place of his uncle, who was murdered 19 years earlier.  As Stephen has been praised by his teacher as being a great letter writer, he turns directly to the source - the murderer himself, a man in prison for the past 18 years.  Because of prison censors, the letters are cryptic but fulfill a need on both sides - resolution for Stephen and escape for the murderer Avery.  It's a pretty realistic take on both sides, and I can easily see a 12-year-old coming to this solution.  In addition to the story, however, the author is absolutely wonderful at turning a phrase, and every sentence is a pleasure to read.  This is definitely going on my top ten list, and I eagerly await Ms. Bauer's next book!  (01-27-10)

• Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich:  I almost picked this book up a year or two again when the movie "21" (based on this book) was released.  This is the story of six students from MIT that used various mathematical techniques and a team approach to turn the probabilities of blackjack in their favor.  Even given the quality of intelligence that even gets a person into MIT, the ability to continually "count cards" (which is discounted at the end of the book) and monitor teammates' signals is fantastic.  The book does show the darker sides of the gambling lifestyle as well, especially with a glimpse of how the casinos don't care if you drop the mortgage, but will bar those that win too much.  This was a quick read, but something off the beaten path as well.  (01-09-10)

• The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters:  Stephen King picked this as his #1 read of 2009 in Entertainment Weekly, and as I'm always looking for a new favorite author, I decided to give it a shot.  I really enjoyed the writing, which is something like saying "she has a great personality," I suppose.  Most of the first 300 pages are descriptions of Dr. Faraday's visits to the Ayres home, The Hundreds, an old family mansion fallen into hard times after WWII.  The last 150 pages get into the actual ghost story, which was somewhat disappointing, as it was extremely subtle and didn't raise a single hair on the back of my neck.  As a historical novel, it was actually a pretty good story of a romance-gone-wrong and an old money family falling apart - the "ghost" element was actually unnecessary.  (01-22-10)

• Secret Circles by F. Paul Wilson:  I've been a fan of the Repairman Jack novels for many years, and this is the second of the prequel books covering Jack's teenage years (written for young adults).  I have mixed feelings over this type of book where the background conveniently flows into place, as I kind of liked the mystery behind Jack's alienation from society, and after all, we learned about his mother's death and its turning point in his life way back in The Tomb.  On the other hand, it's hard to avoid any book by a favorite author, so I have to read this!  Unfortunately, Secret Circles didn't have much to offer - a mysterious structure in the woods, more interactions with The Lodge, and a creature creeping the neighborhood by night.  I was entertained but really wanted more substance in this book.  With only two books left, the next due this Spring, I'm ready to see how everything ties together. (02-04-10)

• The Two-Minute Rule by Robert Crais:  As this is a tale of bank robbers, the two minute rule applies to the time from entry-to-exit of a bank.  Max Holman knew the rule when he held up a bank, but stopped on the way out to save a man who had a heart attack during the robbery.  After serving ten years, he exits prison intent on tracking down his son, now a cop, and learns that on the day of his own release, his son has been gunned down with three other officers.  Max teams up with the ex-FBI agent that put him away years before, as the story around his son's death doesn't make much sense.  They find themselves entwined with another pair of bank robbers and some crooked cops looking for a fortune lost when those bank robbers are killed.  This was a great book, and I look forward to diving into others by this author!  (02-03-10)

Some people call listening to a book "reading" - I am not one of those people!  There are times, however, when a book on CD is the perfect thing for a long drive or to help distract a part of the brain during a difficult project!

• Nothing yet - stay tuned!

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...

• Nothing yet - stay tuned!

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.

• Joe Abercrombie:  I picked up "The Blade Itself" in 2008, and a few pages in, jumped onto Amazon-UK to buy the sequels (which weren't yet available in the US).  I'm not usually into fantasy, but this blended time so well that at times it may have been set in the medieval period, and at other in the post-apocalypse.

• 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.

• Steve Berry:  I anxiously await each of this author's books featuring Cotton Malone, an retired member of the Justice Department and yet constantly involved in intriguing quests.

• Lee Child:  Discovered in 2008, his main character is Jack Reacher, a former Army MP with a bit of wanderlust, a knack for finding trouble, and a sense of honor. 

• Harlan Coben:  Harvard-educated Myron Bolitar, sports agent and investigator.  His buddy Win is a badass that would give Jack Reacher and Repairman Jack a run for their money!

• William Dietrich:  The creator of Ethan Gage, journeyman and soldier-of-fortune in the 18th century.  I love his characters, and his books are exactly what you need for a leisurely weekend!

• Barry Eisler:  I've just finished Fault Line, and although I haven't yet moved into the John Rain series, thanks to Amazon they are on the way!

• 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:  .  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.