23 October 2009
Another book catching up post
Posted by Dirk under: books .
I been slacking bad on the blog updates.
The Final Solution – Michael Chabon A short little book about a certain famous British detective, in his twilight years, investigating a mystery during WWII involving a young Jewish boy, a parrot and strange numbers. I liked it, but I’ve been a Holmes fan for a long time.
Bust – Ken Bruen & Jason Starr A book from the Hard Case Crime publishers. A rich guy hires a dude to knock off his wife so he can marry his hot secretary. Things go very wrong all over the place. I don’t think there is a sympathetic character in this book, but I still liked it for some reason.
Mammoth – John Varley It’s been a while since I read a Varley book but I seem to recall them being better than this one. Not that this book sucks, it’s just I was expecting better. Mammoth is basically about the richest guy in the world and his efforts to clone a mammoth. It’s got time travel too, so if you don’t like that sort of thing, avoid it.
Acacia – David Anthony Durham A reread because the second book in this trilogy had just come out and my memory isn’t good enough on it’s own. I liked this book the second time too. 🙂
Dancing Aztecs – Donald E. Westlake Another funny crime book by the master. This one was published in 1076 and it has a definite 70’s vibe to it. I don’t remember watching the movie It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, but this book reminded me of it. If you’ve read and enjoyed other Westlake books, you’ll like this one.
The Walking Drum – Louis L’Amour A non-Western by L’Amour. This was also a reread, but it’s been a lot longer since I read this one the last time. We had a thread going on the jakedog forums about books and L’Amour came up and made me nostalgic. I don’t know that I’ve read every book he’s written, but I certainly have read most of them. This one is set in the 12th Century and involves a fellow named Kerbouchard and his adventures across Europe and into Asia. I liked this book a lot more when I was younger, but it’s still a fun read.
The Man Who Never Missed – Steve Perry A science fiction book about a single guy trying to bring about a revolution against a ‘Galactic Confederation’. I’d never heard of it before, which is kind of odd, but it’s actually pretty good. I picked up the sequel recently and will start on it soon.
Cold In July – Joe R. Lansdale Another gritty crime book by Lansdale. A guy shoots and kills a burglar in his house and soon after, the dead burglar’s father is released from prison and comes visiting. Shit happens. Lansdale has a special way with writing redneck badass characters 🙂 This is a another good one.
The Big Sky – A.B. Guthrie, Jr Published in 1947 and the first in a loose trilogy of novels set in the early West (the second book, The Way West, won the Pulitzer in 1950), the main character in this book is Boone Caudill, who runs away from his home in Kentucky and heads West to become a mountain man. I generally liked the book and plan on reading the second book at some point.