A smattering of opinions on technology, books, business, and culture. Now in its 4th technology iteration.
03 June 2007
Been working through my modern fiction bookshelf. (I have three shelves of pending reads – “classics”, modern fiction, nonfiction. the modern fiction shelf was getting a little bloated).
* “Case histories”:amazon by Kate Atkinson. Starts out all giggly and cheerful like a bobbsey twins story and then goes horribly wrong as bodies start piling up. Good story, good attempts at characters tho I didn’t really love any of them. * “Bad luck and trouble”:amazon by Lee Child. The latest reacher story. Another great tale. Finished in less than a day. Reacher is a marvelously ruthless hero – the friend you want, the enemy you dread. * “The woods”:amazon by Harlan Coben. A solid suspense tale of a prosecutor whose past tragedies in life resurface and tie disastrously together. Coben solid as always. * “Dress codes”:amazon by Noelle Howey. OK this is nonfiction, but it is a great tale. The story of a young woman growing with a transgendered father who is wrestling with his own issues, what a complicated emotional ride. * “The shadow of the wind”:amazon by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Zafonmania! I’ve had this on the shelf for a while and for some reason I thought it was a Da vinci code type historical adventure and I just couldn’t bring myself to read it. I was totally wrong. Historical yes, but a story of love and misguided love and friendship and deception and hate and revenge. Just awesome characters. Makes me want to run to Barcelona. * “The pesthouse”:amazon by Jim Crace. The tale of a far future America that has slid back to a pre technology society, and the journey of several people through it trying to find safety and a future. Engaging and ultimately hopeful, though not without a lot of despair along the way. Characters you care for. * “Into the blue”:amazon by Robert Goddard. An exceptional suspense tale of a man in his 50s forced to wade through the failures in his life to try to understand the disappearance of a young friend. Great characters. The ending was a bit too tidy for my taste but overall heads and shoulders above most of the suspense books on the shelf.