Thin Air by Robert Parker

Last September I made a decision to read, or re-read all of the Robert Parker books.  I've read many of the Robert Parker books before, and he was always one of my favorite authors.  My favorite is the Spenser series, although I've never watched the TV show Spenser for Hire.  There is just something about reading a familiar series, and getting to know the characters in it.  The relationship between Spenser and Hawk, or Spenser and Susan, and the assorted cast of characters that make their appearances throughout the series - Belson, Quirk, and the cast of "thugs" that make their appearance from time to time, Chollo, Vinnie, Sapp.

You basically know what you are going to get when you pick up the book.  Not that there is anything wrong with that.  Witty dialogue, Spenser's sense of right and wrong, and the good guy always winning in the end, or mostly winning.  Unfortunately I didn't read all of them in order, but I think I enjoyed them just the same.  Thin Air was the last in the series that I finished.

I didn't stop with the Spenser series though, I basically read everything that Robert Parker put out, which I guess was 70 novels.  Some were definitely better than others.  I enjoyed the Spenser series, and the Jesse Stone series, and the Sunny Randall series as well.  Most of the standalone books were good as well, and I even enjoyed his young adult novels.  I didn't like any of the westerns though, they just weren't my thing.

It's hard not to put Parker up there with the list of my all-time favorite writers.  It's interesting that two of his most popular series will continue.  I've already read Killing the Blues by Brandman, and thought it was a pretty good effort.  I'm more anxious to see how Ace Atkins does with the Spenser series though, and I'll be anxious to read Lullaby, which is due out in May.

Slaughterhouse Five / Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut (20/21 of 1294)

Slaughterhouse Five was the first book that I read by Kurt Vonnegut, and definitely not the last.  It's books like this that I've discovered that makes reading the 1001 list worthwhile for me.

A bizarre, but fascinating story of Billy Pilgrim, a soldier who witnessed the fire bombing of Dresden.  Pilgrim was a prisoner of war, abducted by aliens, works as an optometrist after the war, and time travels throughout the book.

An anti-war book, which I guess could be described as science fiction, jumps from place to place - one minute Billy is a prisoner of war, the next minute he is in a zoo in Tralfamadore, the next minute he is with his wife.  I found it to be a very funny book.  Billy's reaction to death is typically, "So it goes".  Apparently the phrase "So it goes" appears in the book 106 times.  Without going through and counting, that sounds pretty accurate to me.

I found Slaughterhouse Five to be a very powerful and funny book.  Vonnegut's attitude toward both the war, and the meaning of life is evident throughout the book, but done in a way that is a style that is different.  The book is also filled with great characters - Billy Pilgrim, Montana Wildhack, and Kilgore Trout.  I imagine this book isn't for everyone, and it's a book that you'll either love or hate.  Personally, I loved it, but can see how other people wouldn't.  So it goes.



I recently finished Breakfast of Champions, which allowed Vonnegut to air his opinions on life, war, racism, sex, and love in his typical offbeat way.  It's another humorous take on life, featuring aging sci-fi writer Kilgore Trout.  It's the type of book that is hard to put down once you pick it up, complete with illustrations.

At times it's laugh out loud funny, at times it's a little sad, at times it's a bit profane, and at times it can leave you wondering just what you are reading.  It's definitely not your typical novel, but it's definitely worth reading.

Maybe Vonnegut is a little bit crazy, but I can't wait to read more books by him.  On the surface it seems like crazy, but funny, ramblings, but the message is there.  I want to say that this is the funnies book that I've read, or even the funniest book that I've read by Vonnegut, but I can't.

I'd have to give that award to God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian, which was an even quicker read.  As a reporter for the afterlife, Vonnegut, with the assistance of Dr. Kevorkian, interviews famous people from the gates of heaven.  From Sir Isaac Newton, to James Earl, to Shakespeare.  It's definitely a short and worthwhile read.

My ratings:
Slaughterhouse Five: 5 stars
Breakfast of Champions: 4 1/2 stars
God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian: 4 stars

Lord of the Flies by William Golding (19 of 1294)

Lord of the Flies was one of the 1001 books that I read in school, but decided to read again because I remembered enjoying it so much.  After reading it one more time, I'm glad that I still found it to be one of my favorite books of all time.  It is an interesting story on human nature.  A group of boys are stranded on a desert island after a plane crash, and how their society turns out.  It's not an upbeat story, but it is short and interesting.  It says alot about human nature, society, and how things can quickly get out of hand.

A book of memorable characters - Jack, Piggy, Ralph, and Simon, and a simple concept and fascinating to read.

My rating: 5 stars

Harlen Coben

As I mentioned before, I don't want to post exclusively about 1001 Books, and will post reviews of books that I've read recently once I get caught up with the backlog of books that I have to review.  Since I'm in catch-up mode I figured I'd talk about another of my favorite authors - Harlen Coben.

I've read every one of his books, and I've enjoyed them all from his stand alone novels to the Myron Bolitar series.  I do really love the Myron series best though, not to take anything away from his stand alone books.  Live Wire was the tenth in the series, and has everything I've come to expect in a Myron book - suspense, witty dialogue, and a cast of characters that I've grown to love.  From Myron and Win's love of Batman, to an unhealthy obsession with Yoo-Hoo.

If you haven't read Coben before I highly recommend it.  Not only is it a fun series to read, but I like how the characters have developed over the course of the series.  Live Wire also introduces a new character, Myron's nephew Mickey, which brings us to .....



Shelter, which was Coben's first young adult novel.  The story is told from Mickey's point of view, and kept me interested.  It's not the greatest young adult book that I've read, but it's better than most.  While I would rate it a notch below his "adult" novels, I definitely plan on reading the next one in the series.

My ratings:
Live Wire - 4 stars
Shelter - 3 1/2 stars

A Death in the Family by James Agee (18 of 1294)

A Death in the Family is an autobiographical novel that deals with a sudden death in the family, and how the family reacts to the death.  The book was published posthumously after Agee died of a heart attack at the age of 45.

While the subject was sad, it was a powerful book that I enjoyed reading.  It's definitely not one of those books that will pick you up, it feels real and well worth reading.

My rating: 4 stars

Falling Man by Don DeLillo (17 of 1294)

Falling Man was the first DeLillo book that I've read, and really enjoyed his writing style.  I have a couple more of his books that I'll be reading shortly, Libra and White Noise.  While I liked his style, this wasn't my favorite book.

The topic is 9/11 victims, and dealing with the impact of 9/11 on the survivors.  I'm not sure what was missing for me, but something just felt missing.  The characters just seemed a little uninteresting, despite the topic.  Without the draw of strong characters either positive or negative, it left me with a feeling that something was missing.  I'm hoping that I like the next DeLillo book I read better, because something about his style made me think the next book could be much better.

My rating: 3 1/2 stars

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (16 of 1294)

The Great Gatsby was one of the books that I originally read in school, and is one of my favorite books of all-time.  I've re-read it recently to see if it really was as good as I remembered.

The Great Gatsby is narrated by Nick Carroway, who tells the story of his neighbor Jay Gatsby, who lives in a mansion in West Egg, New York.  Gatsby is known for his fancy parties, with lots of uninvited guests.  It turns out Gatsby has fallen in love with Nick's cousin, Daisy Buchanan as a younger man, and has worked hard to make money to woo her away from her husband Tom.

Gatsby asks Nick to set-up a meeting with Daisy, and upon meeting Daisy finds out she is still in love with Gatsby, despite still being married to Tom.  A trip to New York City, a fight, a hit and run, and a murder suicide of Gatsby, who is mistaken as the driver of the hit and run, which leads to Gatsby's funeral which nobody attends.

The story is set in the 1920's, and takes on themes such as the American dream, greed, lying, and life.  After re-reading The Great Gatsby, it not only stands up to my memory of a great book, but I've got to experience it from a different point of view.

With the latest movie version being shot and scheduled to come out in 2012, I'm pretty confident that it won't be as good as the novel, but hopefully it can do the book justice.

My ratings: 5 stars

Haruki Murakami

Since I've discovered the 1001 Books You Must Read Before you Die list I've used it to discover many books that I probably never would have on my own, and even discovered a couple authors who I now consider among my favorites.

One of the authors that I discovered who is now among my favorites is Haruki Murakami.  I've seen his books described as both quirky and surreal, which I agree with.  I haven't read everything he has written, but I've really enjoyed each of the books that I have read.  In this article it talks about how he grew up reading authors like Kurt Vonnegut and Richard Brautigan, who both fit that description, and are two of the others I've only read because of the 1001 list and enjoyed as well.



Kafka on the Shore (14 of 1294) was the first Murakami book that I read, and after the first couple of chapters I was hooked.  In a style that he used in other books, the chapters alternate between two different points of views, Kafka and Nakata.  The two plots are separate, but related.  Kafka is on a quest to find his mother and sister, while Nakata searches for lost cats.

Anything that I write about the book probably won't do the book justice.  It's surreal, and magical, and fascinating.  Once I got started I didn't want to put it down.  To me Murakami's books have a dreamlike quality.  You may not always know what is happening or why, but you enjoy the adventure.

My rating: 5 stars



The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles (15 of 1294) was the second Murakami book that I read.  The book is about Toru Okada and his search for his lost cat.  But the simple concept turns into a complex story.  I've found that it is hard to describe a Murakami book though.  There are plenty of offbeat characters, storylines, and themes throughout the book.

It's definitely a strange book, but a fun one that hooked me from the beginning.

My rating: 4 1/2 stars



1Q84 isn't a 1001 list book, but was released last year and was one of my favorite books of the year.  IQ84 was published as three separate novels in Japan, but released last year in the US as one book -- one giant book.

Once again the chapters alternative between characters, mostly between Aomame and Tengo, although Ushikawa has several chapters from his point of view in the final half of the book.  In short it's a love story, but it really is so much more.  A female assassin, an author rewriting a book in order to win a prize, cults, little people, and two moons.

You have to be willing to go with the flow with Murakami, but I haven't been disappointed with one of his books yet.

My rating: 5 stars

Call of the Wild by Jack London (13 of 1294)

Call of the Wild was one of the books on the list that I read in school.  The story is told from Buck, the dog's point of view.  Buck is kidnapped from his comfortable home, and taken to Alaska as a sled dog.

It was a well written book, with a good story, but it wasn't one of my favorite books.  Granted it's been a long time since I've read it, and maybe I'd feel differently today, but I found it boring at times.

My rating: 3 stars

The Drop & Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly

Another one of my favorite authors is Michael Connelly.  I've read just about all of the books that he has written.  I've got a couple that I missed along the way, but I plan to read them.  I've finished reading his two latest books recently, so I thought I would share some thoughts.

The Drop is the latest in the Harry Bosch series.  The title refers to the Deferred Retirement Option Program, with the clock ticking until Harry Bosch's retirement date.  Harry is still working in the open unsolved division of the LAPD when he is assigned a cold case with an unusual DNA match.  Before even getting started on the cold case he is pulled in to investigate the suicide of his nemesis's son and to determine if it was murder or suicide.

Over the course of the book Bosch balances both cases, the politics of the police department, and being a single parent raising a teenage daughter who wants to follow in his footsteps.

I really like the Harry Bosch series, and was slightly disappointed by the past couple books in the series.  I didn't like the direction that 9 Dragons went with the travels to Hong Kong, or care for his new partner in the book.  Every series reaches that point where it seems to go on too long, but I felt that The Drop turned things around nicely and I really enjoyed it.



The Fifth Witness is the other side of the "Law and Order" equation, featuring lawyer Mickey Haller, who is Harry Bosch's half-brother.  I'm not sure how I missed the release of this book until very recently.  In fact I just finished reading this over the weekend, but I would say that I enjoy the Haller series even better than the Harry Bosch series.  The first novel in the series, The Lincoln Lawyer was turned into a movie, which I haven't watched yet.  I always am conflicted when I book that I like is turned into a movie - I want to see it, but I don't because I usually end up being disappointed.

But if you enjoy legal novels, I'd recommend the Haller series, but wouldn't recommend starting with The Fifth Witness.  The Fifth Witness tells the story of Lisa Trammel, who is accused of murder and hires Haller for a lawyer.

If The Drop was one of my favorite Connelly novels, Fifth Witness would be one of my least favorites.  It's not a bad book, it's just not what I've come to expect from Connelly.  There were parts I liked - the beginning, the surprise ending, and I'm a fan of the courtroom scenes as well.  It just felt like something was missing.

I would also say that Lisa Trammel was kind of a boring defendant.  I honestly didn't care one way or another whether she was found guilty or innocent.

I've read that 2012 will only bring a new Harry Bosch novel, so hopefully the next Mickey Haller novel will be worth the wait.

Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (12 of 1294)

I wasn't sure what to expect from the book with the strange title. I was actually pretty surprised when I got it home, and it was a young adult book, not that it really matters too much. The book tells the story of Christopher Boone, a 15 year old boy, with autism(I believe, I don't think that the book came right out and said it), who is mathematically gifted, and full of peculiar habits. The higher number of red cars the better the day, but four yellow cars in a row is a black day.

The story begins with the murder of a neighbor's dog, and Christopher begins writing a mystery novel over the investigation. Along the way, Christopher uncovers a big family secret, and has quite the journey. One of my favorite things about the book was all the chapters were prime numbers. A gimmick that worked well because of the main character.

Red is good. Yellow is bad. Brown is worse. Touching is bad, even when it is his food on the plate, and he uses a container of red food dye. He also doesn't like strangers, or when something is out of place, and notices many things most people wouldn't even bother noticing. This was an incredible book. It was funny, touching, sad, quirky, and unique. One thing that I really liked is that the characters were "real". The parents were neither good nor bad. They did bad things, but even if you didn't agree with them, you could justify them. Everything wasn't black or white, good or bad, right or wrong.

My rating: 5 stars

Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee (11 of 1294)

Disgrace was the first book that I've ever read by Coetzee, and it was a different kind of book than I was used to.  Disgrace tells the story of David Lurie, and English professor in South Africa who loses his job after seducing one of his students.  Lurie is twice divorced and after being forced from his job, turns to his daughter, who lives a simple life on the farm.

Lurie is not an easy character to like, and in fact as a character I disliked him.  That's not to say I didn't like the book though.  There were many opportunities for him to redeem himself, yet he always managed to leave me disappointed by his actions, and almost despising him.  In fact it was a bit uncomfortable reading parts of the book, but there are many themes within the book to think about.

Disgrace was a well written book though, and definitely worth reading.  It's a pretty short novel, but it's definitely not necessarily a quick read.  If you are looking for an uplifting book, this isn't it.

My rating: 4 stars

Some statistic updates

I alluded before to updating the spreadsheet for the books that I've read against the 1001 list, and I think at this point the spreadsheet is pretty accurate.  At this point I've read 70 of the 1294 books, or 5.4%.  By the end of 2012 I'd like to get above 10%, so I've got another 60 to read before then.  I don't read exclusively from the list, so that would be over 1 per week which should be possible.  

I also have several other lists in the spreadsheet which I hope to make progress on.  The Guardian 1000 which I've also read 5.4% of the list, Book Crossing's top 100 novels, along with lists from the BBC, Time, EW, and Modern Library.  I'm going to try and read the books that appear on multiple lists first to make the most progress.  

I've also been trying to finish off the last couple books from authors that I enjoy reading, and working my way through my daughter's Reading Olympics book list.  I like to read several different books at once, depending on my mood, so there is always something to read.

The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks (10 of 1294)

I thought I'd get a couple of my least favorites from the list out of the way.  The Wasp Factory was another one of the books that I didn't really enjoy.

The story is told from Frank's perspective, who is quite a disturbed young individual.  Frank lives with his father, in a very unconventional life, where he doesn't go to school, lives on an island, and his brother just escaped from a mental institution.  Frank spends his time torturing and killing small animals, along with other relatives or people he doesn't like.

The end has a pretty big twist about Frank that I won't spoil.  In all honesty the book was a little disturbing, which I don't say much.  I had high hopes when the sleeve of the book mentioned Lord of the Flies, and read a lot of positive reviews of the book.

I do know that I immediately hated reading the book, but as time passed my stance has softened a bit.  It wasn't as terrible as my first impression, but I'd stop short of recommending it.  I can think of other weird or disturbing books that I liked much more.

My rating: 2 1/2 stars.

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (9 of 1294)

I've discovered many books from the 1001 list that I've enjoyed, and I've read a few that I probably could have done without.  I usually can get through just about any book, but Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys wasn't one of my favorites.  I felt like I really had to force my way through this book.

To be fair, I haven't read Jane Eyre yet, so that may have been part of the problem.  This book tells the story of the madwoman in the attic.  Although the book was short, I never could get in to the story, so it took much longer than it should have to read.

There was a lot of critical acclaim for this novel, and in reading some reviews other enjoyed it much more than I did.  Unfortunately I wasn't one of the ones who enjoyed it.

My rating: 1 1/2 stars

Lee Child

I don't want to blog exclusively about the 1001 (1294) books you must read before you die, so from time to time I'll post other reviews of books I've read, thoughts, or things that I'm thinking of.  I thought that it would be good to talk about some of my favorite authors from time to time.  One of my favorite authors is Lee Child.

The Affair was the latest book, 16th in the series, that I read in the Jack Reacher series at the end of last year.  I've read each of the Jack Reacher novels, and even the Second Son short story that was put out last summer.  I started reading the series when I picked up the 9th book, One Shot, and liked it so much I went back and read the entire series.

I always end up reading the new book too quickly, and find myself waiting for the next one.  But I guess that is what makes it one of my favorite series.  It's hard not to like Jack Reacher, an ex-military police officer, who wanders around the country with nothing more than his toothbrush and clothes on his back who stumbles upon trouble and saves the day.

The Affair was a prequel taking us back to his army days before he parted with the military for good.  Reacher travels to a small town in Mississippi to investigate a soldier's girl friend whose throat was slashed.  He tries to determine if it was a local who committed the murder, or someone from the nearby army base.  Reacher encounters the usual trouble, brushes with death, and finds a local love interest.

Maybe the Reacher novels are becoming a little too formulaic, but I still think they work very well.  I'm not ready to give up reading Reacher any time soon.  In fact, I think the success of the Reacher series has spawned an imitator with Zero Day by David Baldacci.  I've read, and enjoyed several Baldacci books, but the similarities between Zero Day with John Puller and a Reacher novel were a bit too much.

I did recently discover that Lee Child has a brother, Andrew Grant who has published a couple of novels, so I've put him on my 'to be read' shortly list.

Atonement by Ian McEwan (8 of 1294)

Atonement was the second book that I've read by Ian McEwan and was really looking forward to it based on the first book I read.  Plus I read a lot of positive reviews, and heard good things about the book.  I don't know if it was because of those high expectations, or because of the ending, but I was a little disappointed in the book.

I did think the book was well written, and I do enjoy McEwan's style, but thought it was a little slow at times.  In the summer of 1935 we are introduced to Briony Tallis and an event that changes the lives of everyone involved.  The book is broken down into four parts, and the fourth part is where it fell apart for me.  The fourth part was an epilogue set 50 plus years later, and changes the first three parts.

I don't need a happy ending, but for me the epilogue brought down the book.

My rating: 3 1/2 stars

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams(7 of 1294) (

I've still got a backlog of book that I have read to post, and I'm still trying to get organized with what I've read and what I still need to read.  I've got too many book going at the same time - books I own, books I'm reading on the Kindle, library books, etc, but I keep trying to get "organized", whatever that means.  I feel like I've got reading lists all over the place, so I've been busy putting them all into a spreadsheet, and cleaning it up.  The process seems to be taking forever, but spending a little bit of time each day I seem to be making progress.

And that intro has absolutely nothing to do with the review of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, except that rather than posting a review of a book I've read previously, this is a review of a book I just finished.  I have to be perfectly honest that this was one of those books that I was just excited to finish and get off the list.  For some reason it looked stupid, and the books, movies, or anything related didn't interest me too much.  I've read Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams before, and really wasn't blown away by it.  It wasn't bad, but it certainly wasn't great.

So things started pretty slowly for me the first couple chapters, and I kept thinking I wasn't going to like this.  Why should I care about Arthur Dent and his house that is about to be demolished?  What the heck is up with Ford Prefect?  And then a funny thing happened, I just couldn't put the book down.

Now I think boy, was I wrong, and when am I going to read it again?  This was one of the funniest books that I've ever read, and I really enjoyed it.  I guess my only regret is that I didn't read this sooner.

My rating: 5 stars

Moby Dick/ Billy Budd (5 & 6/1294)

The next two books I read in school, and really have no desire to read them again.  I thought about re-reading any of the books that I've read before as part of the 1001 list, but quickly decided against it.  I grew up in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where Melville lived for 13 years, and at one point used to drive by his house, Arrowhead, almost daily.  Despite that, I never really enjoyed reading Melville.

Moby-Dick was my favorite of the two Melville novels, telling the story of a sailor Ishmael, aboard the ship called the Pequod which was commanded by Captain Ahab.  The purpose of the voyage was to search for the great white whale, Moby-Dick, who destroyed Ahab's previous boat.

I'd love to say that being forced to read the book in school was why I didn't like that, but some of my favorite books I was first forced to read in school, so I can't really use that excuse.  It's probably fair to say that Melville was just not for me.



The second book that I read in school was Billy Budd, and I honestly have little recollection of this book, except that I remember hating reading it.  I'll include a link for a summary, because you would get more out of that summary than I would.  I struggled through reading this book, and if it wasn't for having to read it I would have stopped reading.  Maybe I'd enjoy it more today, but honestly the bad experience turned me off forever.

My ratings:
Moby-Dick - 2 stars
Billy Budd - 1 star

The Devil and Miss Prym/Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho (3 & 4 /1294)

I saw this story about 10 Books to Read for the new year, and thought I would talk about Paulo Coelho's books. One of the books on the list of books to read for the new year was The Alchemist

.

I probably discovered Paulo Coelho differently than most people. The Alchemist didn't sound too appealing to me and didn't have much interest in reading it until I had first read the other two books on the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list. I decided to give in and see what the hype was, and I wasn't too impressed.

The book tells the story of Santiago, a shepherd who travels to the pyramids of Egypt in search of a treasure. It was a short book, and while it wasn't bad, I didn't feel like I got much out of it either.  I was a little disappointed, because I definitely liked it much less than his other two books that I've read.



There's obviously a lot of books on the list, and there was a large number of books that I've always wanted to read and never did.  There were many more that I never heard of.  Sometimes I'll intentionally pick a book that looks good, and sometimes I'll pick one of those books at random, not knowing what to expect.  This was one of those books where I didn't know what to expect, and just started reading.

This was a small book, quick to read, and had a "simple" premise - whether human beings are good or evil.  The basics of the plot are that Miss Prym comes across a stranger in the woods, who has buried 11 gold bars in two holes, and shows Miss Prym where one gold bar is located.  The stranger's proposition to her is that she must tell everyone in the small village of Viscos the story, and if after seven days they murder one of their own, the 10 gold bars are theirs.  If after seven days, the villagers resisted the temptation and Miss Prym didn't steal the gold bar he would conclude that people are good.   If one of the villagers is murdered and Miss Prym steals the gold bar he would conclude that people are evil.  If one of the two happened, he would conclude that people are both good and evil.

I enjoyed the book quite a bit, and it was an interesting book to read.  It was an interesting concept, and well written.  I always wonder how much of translated books get lost in translation, but regardless, I enjoyed both the book, and was inspired to check out more books by Coelho.



Veronika Decides to Die was the next book that I picked up.  The book tells the story of Veronika, who seems to have a good life, but decides to kill herself by taking sleeping pills.  She wakes up in a mental hospital after the failed attempt, and is told that she only has a few days to live because of the damage done by the attempted suicide.  It's after she wakes up and learns she is alive, but will die that she learns to live.

It's a good story, and a good message.  I enjoyed the book, and would recommend it, but I still have mixed feelings about Coelho.  I've read three of his books, and I don't know if I'll be reading a fourth.  Somehow I just feel they are missing a little something, or perhaps a little simple.  I guess I wouldn't rule out reading another of his books, but I've got plenty others that are on the list in front of him.

My ratings:
The Alchemist - 2 stars
The Devil and Miss Prym - 3 1/2 stars
Veronika Decides to Die - 3 1/2 stars