It's been a while...

(originally published on 6/27/2006 in Fubaar's Books)

OK, wow, I totally forgot about my blog. I think I got embarrased with some of the books that I was reading and decided that it wasn't worth it to write a post. It all went downhill from there.

Let's see if I can remember what I've read since last October...

S.M. Stirling's Island in the Sea of Time
Nantucket gets zapped back into 1250 B.C. and the inhabitants have to figure out how to survive without the comforts of modern life. This was a cool alternate history/time travel book. After reading this, I started reading the sequels to this book. It's a fun set of books, but after a while you kind of think to yourself...when is it going to end. The books just keep going and going.

S.M. Striling's Dies the Fire
The first book in a parrallel series to the Nantucket books above. The premise is that a blinding white light originates over the island of Nantucket and spreads over the whole globe (supposedly, this is when Nantucket is thrown back in time). After the white light is gone, physics has changed such that electricity and explosives no longer work. The rest of the story follows the survivors of the Event and what they do to survive. This book had a cool concept, but I got pretty tired of Stirling's writing style. I don't even remember if I finished this book or if I just gave up because I knew there were multiple sequels that I just didn't want to read.

After these books, I got a little tired of reading the same genre over and over again, so I started looking for reading suggestions. Quite by accident, I stumbled on the Nancy Pearl podcasts on NPR. So far, I've liked about 65% the books that she has suggested. She's got two books out called Book Lust and More Book Lust, which are essentially books with reading lists in them. If you're looking for some suggestions, I would highly recommend these as a starting place. Here are the books that I've read from Nancy Pearl's suggestions:

The Prestige by Christopher Priest
If you like magic then this book is for you. It's a novel about two magicians, their hatred for each other, and their secrets that they want to keep the other from finding out. I'm not much for magic myself, but I still found the book intriguing. However, the book got a little weird toward the end and the plot twists actually turned me off from enjoying the ending.

The Calligrapher by Edward Docx
This book is about a playboy who falls desperately in love with a gorgeous woman...Nancy Pearl put this book into her "Dick Lit" category. I didn't really like the protagonist from the start, so I was pretty lukewarm with the book all the way through. Probably since I didn't get involved with the main character's life, I was able to guess some of the plot twists early on in the book.

Flanders by Patricia Anthony
This book is a World War I soldier's account of the war through the letters he writes home to his brother. I really liked this book and will probably read it again at some point.

A Sport and a Pastime by James Salter
No, this book isn't about baseball. I think it was supposed to be some coming of age story, but I couldn't get into the book.

Old Man's War by John Scalzi
What a kick-ass book! I knew that I would eventually get back into Sci-Fi again...I just can't help it, I think it is in my blood. If you liked Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers then you will love this book. Scalzi actually used ST as a model for this book. However, he's not just regurgitating the same sci-fi themes that any old hack can come up with...he's got some really innovative ideas that he weaves into the story. I'm currently reading The Ghost Brigades, which is a sequel to Old Man's War, and I'm thoroughly enjoying that book as well. Check out Scalzi's website (www.scalzi.com). He regularly blogs on the website, still answers fan's posts, and he even has an online novel Agent to the Stars, which I'm reading as well.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Actually, Nancy Pearl didn't recomend this directly. Wifey had started listening to the book on tape again and once I heard it, I just had to read it again. This must be the 5th time I've read the book. However, this is one of the Sci-Fi books that Nancy Pearl does highly recomend.

OK, that's about it. I could say that I will be better at writing posts, but that would be a lie.