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.

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. 

• Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin:  This book definitely found a saturation point during the 2008 elections, and I may be the last to read it!  Regardless, this book is sitting on my desk at work to fill in the rare 10-minute lunch periods!

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

• Alex &  Me by Irene Pepperberg:  In September 2007, an African Grey parrot passed away, and the world noticed.  He had an obituary in Time Magazine, tributes setup online, and hoards of fans crashing The Alex Foundation website to express condolences.  He was a 30-year-old, one pound bunch of gray feathers, but was also proof that non-humans could possess intent, communicate, and have intellectual interactions with human beings.  Alex could count, identify colors and shapes, and apparently play jokes on his handlers.  I've been the proud owner of an African Grey ("Watson") for the past decade, and am amazed by these parrots.  (02-15-09)

• The Associate by John Grisham:  This lawyer-in-trouble return had been trumpeted as The Firm, part 2.  It's always hard to critique someone who essentially invented a genre, but I didn't get into this at all.  Kyle McAvoy finds himself the center of an extortion from parties unknown - all he knows is that if he doesn't help steal information on a case from his New York law firm, the blackmailer will release a video that shows Kyle in connection with a rape during his college days.  I felt like I was trapped in the novel the same way the main character was, and the ending left far too much unresolved.  As noted, the book uses the lawyer-in-trouble formula as past books, and of course focuses upon the "evil" nature of firms, partners, and most attorneys.  It just felt tired here.  Love Grisham, could have skipped this.  (02-03-09)

• Boneman's Daughters by Ted Dekker:  The Boneman is a serial killer that takes teenage girls and breaks their bones without damaging the skin - nothing terribly different about this killer that I haven't seen in many other books and movies.  Ryan Evans is a military intelligence officer that is captured in Iraq and subsequently tortured by being made to watch children have their bones broken.  He is the estranged father (adopted) of Bethany Evans, and after his military discharge, goes home to make amends with his family.  Can you see it coming?  Frankly, I thought that this was a bit contrived, but altogether an okay book.  (04-26-09)

• The Card by Michael O'Keefe & Teri Thompson:  Those that know me recognize that I couldn't tell you anything about sports - nothing.  It might seem odd, then, that I would be interested in a book about a baseball card.  This isn't just any card, but the T206 Wagner that has inspired people to spend a million dollars for a 100-year-old slice of cardboard!  This book highlights the mysterious past of the Gretzky card, as well as an industry of sports collectibles that has become haunted by fakes and restorations.  I've paid $100 for a single postcard that I wanted for my collection, and that feels like a lot to me, but I suppose that one man's Benjamin is another's million!  An interesting book!  (01-05-08)

• The Daemon by Daniel Suarez:  So, what happens when a designer of extremely popular multi-player virtual games (e.g., World of Warcraft) dies of brain cancer?  In this novel, a daemon is unleashed that burrows through corporate and government networks, following an emotionless logic path focused on interrupting society.  I'm not much of a techie anymore, but there is an unnerving sense that much of this book could happen - imagine if that gaming engine is turned to the outside world!  There are parts that seem somewhat fantastic (e.g., the razor-armored rider-less motorcycles), but for those of us that have experienced the helplessness of having a credit card hacked online, the book resonates with possibility!  The book doesn't actually resolve and actually introduces an upcoming series - I'll be waiting for it to hit the stores in 2010!  (01-22-09)

• The Dakota Cipher by William Dietrich:  Ethan Gage is back!  Starting off in France, Gage is sent to America by Napoleon as a liaison with Thomas Jefferson, carrying the news that France is about to announce that they've acquired the Louisiana Territory from Spain.  In turn, Jefferson finances Gage and his mysterious companion Magnus Bloodhammer on their quest to the west, on the condition that they keep a lookout for wooly mammoths.  Magnus is convinced that his ancestors, of the Knights Templar nevertheless, journeyed to the American West years before Columbus, and a mysterious runestone seems to validate that.  Fighting the British, Indians, and disease, the duo work their way to a fantastic conclusion.  I highly recommend this author, but start with the The Rosetta Key.  Once you get through Dakota, check out the wikipedia entry on the Kensington Runestone. (03-31-09)

• Deal Breaker by Harlan Coben:  I love finding a new favorite author with an established backlist - last year it was Lee Child, and I think 2009 has brought me Coben!  Myron Bolitar is a sports agent that gets involved with investigating the disappearance of his client's girlfriend, who is also the sister of Myron's ex.  The plot and resolution were excellent, and although I guessed the ending correctly, it was indeed a guess on my part - I always like it when an author outsmarts me.  I look forward to seeing Myron and his semi-psychotic friend Win soon!   (03-18-09)

• Drop Shot by Harlen Coben:  Myron Bolitar is back (see Deal Breaker, above)!  This time, the sports agent with a proclivity for getting involved in strange situations is trying to keep his beloved Jessica out of harm's way while the hired guns of a rival sports agency are attempting to dissuade Myron's interest in the murder of a young tennis champion.  At the same time, Myron is trying to figure out what's going on with his own tennis star, a young man that seems to have something to do with the shooting, but as he was on the court at the time, the connection is mysterious!  I really enjoyed this book, even if I had it figured out halfway through.  (04-19-09)

• Fault Line by Barry Eisler:  I'll start by admitting that I've just ordered this author's backlist, so obviously I enjoyed this book.  I did feel that part of it was somewhat contrived, and the introduction of certain characters did reveal where it would end up.  Regardless, the writing was excellent, and the characters had a depth that I haven't seen for quite awhile.  Alex Treven is a patent attorney who  finds his first "gig" client - the inventor of an encryption program called Obsidian - but is soon running for his life when the inventor and the patent office official are killed and all materials in the office turn up missing.  Luckily, Alex' brother is a black ops specialist (see, a bit contrived) that steps into the situation to save his brother.  Again, I liked this book, and hope that this author's other works are similar!  (04-22-09)

• Fool by Christopher Moore:  So, this is a retelling of the Bard's King Lear, accented with bits of Macbeth and twisted histories.  When the king decides to split his kingdom between his three daughters, only Cordelia, his youngest, speaks the truth that her love for him will be divided between Lear and her future husband.  For her truth, she is cast out with nothing.  The Black Fool, the narrator of this tale, decides to bring war to the kingdom, and begins to manipulate the chessboard with help from a few witches, a de-knighted knight, and his cohort, the Natural.  This is a fun read, very entertaining.  (03-03-09)

• Founding Brothers - The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis:  This was a phenomenal book!  I picked this up at an airport last week, and have been captivated by these stories of Washington, Burr, Hamilton, Adams, and Jefferson.  The writing style is fantastic (Ellis is a Pulitzer winner) and the stories he has chosen are perfect - things you may not have thought about at depth, such as how the Potomac was picked to become the capital, how and why slavery came to exist in the Constitution, and how the famous Burr-Hamilton dual came to pass.  This is not a dull history version - the writing brings the men the founded this country off the page.  I'd recommend this to anyone!  (01-15-09)

• Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child:  Jack Reacher is always aware of his surroundings, and when his mental checklist identifies a suicide bomber on the subway at 2am, the alarms start going off and Jack steps into the situation.  The rest of the book is a result of that decision as the police, FBI, and other feds focus on Jack, and a young women evolves into something completely different.  As a fan of Reacher, I found this to be a great, fast-paced book, and was happy to get a copy three weeks before the on-sale date here in the states (thanks Amazon UK)!  Definitely pick up this book!  (04-27-09)

• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman:  Yes, it is a kid's book, but I really enjoyed it!  It is rather dark (and given the author, no surprise), but I was shocked when the first chapter detailed the murder of a family, less the baby that crawls away.  Nobody Owens is adopted by the people of the graveyard, taught their ways, and warned of the outside world.  The end was as expected, but nevertheless it was a great story!  (03-09-09)

• The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch:  I think most people have heard of this book by now, but for those that haven't, the author was a professor at Carnegie Mellon, invited to participate in a tradition where the professor would deliver a theoretical last lecture.  In his case, however, a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer made it likely that this would be this last for real, and his topic turned to happiness through realizing one's childhood dreams.  Video of the lecture is viewable at www.TheLastLecture.com, but the book goes beyond by talking about how the author worked with his wife to ensure that his three children (18 months to six years) would know their father.  This is a good book to start the year with, as it reminds you over-and-over that time is valuable, and quite possibly in shorter quantity than desired.  (01-02-08)

• Lawyer Boy by Rick Lax:  Perusing the law section at Borders, I fell upon this story of an amateur magician that decides to go to law school.  This book chronicles the period stretching from the LSAT through the author's first year at DePaul in Chicago.  Not bad.  I've been a law student at a public university, nothing at all wrong with that, but the environment is different than Turow's "1L" tale from Harvard.  This book tells that tale by introducing the characters present in every law school, and the story is told with an entertaining humor.  Those that have experienced, or plan to experience, law school will enjoy this book, and the rest of you, it's a great story!  (01-04-08)

• Lethal Legacy by Linda Fairstein:  This book didn't quite catch me, which is a shame, as it really was a decent book with a unique plot line and good characters.  Alexandra Cooper is an ADA in New York, and is initially called to an assault in Manhattan.  After that woman refuses help and disappears, another woman is killed in the same apartment while holding a valuable book.  Thus begins the search for a killer, and at the same time, a search for the object behind the murders, the first world map using the name "America."  Why didn't it catch me?  I don't know - I just didn't connect - but I will be picking up another book by this author soon!  (03-25-09)

• Life Without Lawyers by Philip Howard:  I've enjoyed this author's previous books, and this one walks a similar theme.  Our society has shifted on its perspective of lawyers - once a venerable profession, attorneys are now believed by many to be dishonest, manipulative, or worse (at least until they need one themselves!).  Like any profession, there are certainly a few bad eggs, but as a lawyer myself, I believe that most attorneys are keeping their clients at the highest priority.  The author actually pins much of the fault on society itself, and I agree to a large degree.  Many folks believe that their individual rights trump the greater good - a teacher looks at a kid wrong, a workplace has to document every employee issue, etc - and there is a crippling effect as people worry more about being sued than about doing the "right thing."  Mr. Howard proposes a logical, though difficult, strategy to change the tide, but as doing so requires lawmakers to speak against the current mindset, I don't know how plausible the approach actually is.  (03-10-09)

• The Long Fall by Walter Mosley:  This book was hyped in a few places, and I must admit, it probably deserved the attention.  The protagonist, Leonid McGill, is a private investigator trying to go straight after a lifetime of working the other side of the street.  Unfortunately, his previous employers still demand his services, and getting out seems to be a fool's errand.  After a few men that he helped find turn up dead, followed shortly by the go-between man that hired McGill, the police spotlight seems to be shining on him even brighter.  Leonid's family is fractured as well - a cheating wife come home, and a son intent on following his father's old ways.  The characters in this book are very good, and I hope to see them again very soon.  (04-04-09)

• The Motley Fool Million Dollar Portfolio by David & Tom Gardner:  With the market dropping everyday, I knew that there had to be some bargain stocks our there, but needed a bit of help thinking through it.  I've been pretty lucky with stock picks in the past, but they were mostly based on gut feel and not as much science.  Taking some of the lessons from this book, I'm planning to do a bit more research so I can pick up some good deals while the market is dropping.  Above all, this was a readable book that jumped between analysis, history, and a few war stories (good and bad).  Definitely a keeper  (02-23-09)

• One L by Scott Turow:  Back in the mid-70s, Scott Turow spent his 1L year at Harvard Law School, and turned it into this book which has almost become required reading for every new law student.  I haven't read this since the summer before I entered Akron Law, and since I've started to focus on my own novel again, I wanted to relive the 1L experience.  Things haven't changed much, and although Akron isn't Harvard, this book still brought back memories of stress, study groups, the Socratic method, and more stress!  What I'd give to go back!  (02-11-09)

• One Shot by Lee Child:  Well, that was the last of the Jack Reacher books until Gone Tomorrow is released in May!  This wasn't the best story, only because there couldn't be another 300 pages unless the reader assumed a few things upfront.  A former Army sniper shoots five people, seemingly at random, and after being awakened at his home, asks for Reacher, who shows up soon thereafter.  The problem is that the sniper is beaten into a coma while sitting in jail, and Reacher had investigated him 14 years prior for a similar incident that he admitted to.  So why ask for Reacher?  The story moves at a good pace and is an entertaining trip (even if you know you've figured it out!).  (01-30-09)

• Rain Fall by Barry Eisler:  John Rain learned the art of killing as a member of the U.S. Special Forces in Vietnam, and has honed his skills as a for-hire assassin in Japan.  He has simple principles - the target must be a principle and never a woman, and he can be the only one hired for the hit.  The target always dies from what appears to be natural causes, and in the opening pages of this book, a man has a heart attack in the subway.  As John concludes the job, he watches another man diving through the victim's pockets, which starts a cycle of double-crossing that John must resolve before both he and the daughter of the original target wind up dead themselves.  It took me awhile to get into the character, but I will definitely follow John through the sequels!  (04-28-09)

• The Sacred Blood by Michael Byrnes:  The follow-up to 2007's The Sacred Bones will not be mistaken as one of the best books ever written, but it does hold the reader's attention even if the eventual answer is almost expected.  Charlotte Hennessy, a geneticist, barely escaped a Vatican cabal to keep secret the discovery of Jesus' bones in the last book, and she is again targeted in this book (who knew that a cabal could cross the ocean?).  At the center of the plot, DNA extracted from the bones and injected into Charlotte, cures her of terminal cancer but gets quite a few others killed in the process.  At the end, a high-level religious artifact comes into play (name three, and you'll have guessed it) and a final firefight finds all right with the world.  A quick, entertaining read.  (04-11-09)

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!

• The Unquiet by John Connolly (read by Jay O. Sanders):  Although abridged, I really enjoyed this novel.  Charlie Parker is back as the haunted private investigator, this time hired by the daughter of a Dr. Clay to protect her from a killer, a hit man intent on discovering the truth behind the disappearance of his own daughter.  Dr. Clay was a child psychiatrist, and it appears that he became involved with a group of child abusers before disappearing himself.  This is one of those stories that kept me guessing, and although I was partially right, it was definitely not a "gimme" solution.  I will likely seek out the printed version of this book eventually, as now I want to see what was abridged!  (04-13-09)

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.

• 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.