Anyway, a quiet day so far. I went for my walk this morning at 5:30. It was so nice and fresh out. I was even able to comfortably wear shorts instead of the usual track pants. I will say it knocked the stuffing out of me somewhat. I read a bit afterwards and then went back to bed for a couple of hours. LOL! No staying power.
I finished a book this morning, one of my 12 + 4 Challenge books; it being to try and finish off a number of series.I'll provide my review and also the synopsis of the next book in that challenge. I also got 3 books in the mail on Tuesday. I only have 3 outstanding books on order. I think I'll wait until they arrive before I order any more. I'll also update those three books. Finally I'll continue with my ongoing look at the Sci-Fi novel. In my last post on that topic I indicated that I had only one more post to go. I did a check through my various lists the other day and discovered I'd missed a couple of other authors. So I will provide those as well. Whew!
New Books
"Jack Fleming, ace reporter, always had a weak spot for strange ladies. And he certainly should have listened to the one who said she was a vampire! Because when a thug blasts several bullets through Jack's back, he does not die--and discovers that he is a vampire as well! First in an exciting new vampire adventure series."
"For generations, bitter old Andy Mattson terrified the children of Hillside and puzzled his adult neighbors. How did the scowling old codger, who seemed to spend his life stroking his cat on the front porch, support himself? How did he pass the days? And why did he die such a gruesome death?
The police find Andy dead on his sofa, covered in blood, eyes wide with fear. The most likely suspect is the dead man’s cat, a howling beast that resembles a trapped badger. But as Chief of Police Waterman digs into the strange death, he finds that beneath Hillside’s sunny surface runs a river of hate. An old man was murdered, and it seems many people in town had motives to commit the crime."
"This is the life story of Jason Pellew, or at least the story of that part of his life bounded by childhood at one end and early middle age at the other. The narrator is Henry Payne, who first encounters Jason when they are both young children and then meets him repeatedly thereafter: they both attend the same public school and are up at Cambridge at the same time, they both help to break up Blackshirt rallies in the East End in the 1930s and their paths cross repeatedly during World War Two. Jason goes off the rails after the War, ending up in court accused of having committed a range of minor felonies, mainly in an attempt to raise funds following a disastrously short-lived marriage to an exploitative older woman who takes him for a ride."
Just Finished
✓
"Open Secret is the 2nd and final book in Deryn Collier's Bern Fortin mystery series set in Kootenay Landing, British Columbia. Fortin is an ex-soldier who now works as the Coroner in Kootenay Landing.
In this story while Fortin is off on a morning hike in the mountains he hears a gun shot. Running to investigate he comes across the local doctor trying to revive a man who has been shot. The man still dies and the RCMP are called in to investigate. At the same time Gary Dowd a resident of Kootenay heads to the US border with a shipment of drugs. When he arrives at the border he has second thoughts, takes the drugs and abandoning his car, heads into the mountains. Are these two incidents related? That is the crux of the investigation.
At the time Fortin is being forced to reckon with his past life in the military, an affair with his general's wife, activities in Rwanda where he was deployed, etc. An ex-military man, now reporter, is in Kootenay trying to get a story from Fortin in order to help one of Fortin's military colleagues who is currently in military prison. Oh yes, one other thing, the story delves into the past of Cindy Forsberg, an abused native girl, who was adopted by a white family and disappeared 10 - 15 years ago.
So how are all these events related? That's what the story tries to find out. In its way it was very interesting. There is also a Hell's Angels and drug element to the whole darn thing. So lots of loose ends to try to tie together and sort out. All in all I enjoyed the story but it wasn't perfect. I found it difficult to invest myself in most of the characters, maybe they were a bit too 'quirky'? Maybe there was a bit too much going on, too many secrets, too many disparate events. In the end everything was tied up reasonably satisfyingly. The story was ok, not great but still acceptable. (3 stars)"
Just Started
"Lighting a cigarette in the gray night, P.I. Mike Haller is uneasy about the job that has brought him to London and away from his home in California. His instincts warned him that he was in for trouble—he just didn’t trust the old man who had hired him, and he couldn’t quite explain the reason behind his suspicions. But the photo of the runaway bride had touched his romantic heart. Too bad he forgot to remember the sickening surge of adrenaline that fear brings . . . because Haller would soon find a hard, deadly barrel of a .38 jammed into his ribs, forcing him to make a decision that he must never regret. With its suspenseful, intriguing plot set against the backdrop of London town, Fly Away, Jill brings Haller face to face with the horrifying truth behind one man’s unscrupulous past."
The Science Fiction Novel - Max Brooks
 |
| Maximillian (Max) Michael Brooks |
"The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. "World War Z" is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years.
Ranging from the now infamous village of New Dachang in the United Federation of China, where the epidemiological trail began with the twelve-year-old Patient Zero, to the unnamed northern forests where untold numbers sought a terrible and temporary refuge in the cold, to the United States of Southern Africa, where the Redeker Plan provided hope for humanity at an unspeakable price, to the west-of-the-Rockies redoubt where the North American tide finally started to turn, this invaluable chronicle reflects the full scope and duration of the Zombie War.
Most of all, the book captures with haunting immediacy the human dimension of this epochal event. Facing the often raw and vivid nature of these personal accounts requires a degree of courage on the part of the reader, but the effort is invaluable because, as Mr. Brooks says in his introduction, "By excluding the human factor, aren't we risking the kind of personal detachment from history that may, heaven forbid, lead us one day to repeat it? And in the end, isn't the human factor the only true difference between us and the enemy we now refer to as 'the living dead'?" (4 stars)
"The Zombie Survival Guide is your key to survival against the hordes of undead who may be stalking you right now. Fully illustrated and exhaustively comprehensive, this book covers everything you need to know, including how to understand zombie physiology and behavior, the most effective defense tactics and weaponry, ways to outfit your home for a long siege, and how to survive and adapt in any territory or terrain.
Top 10 Lessons for Surviving a Zombie Attack
1. Organize before they rise!
2. They feel no fear, why should you?
3. Use your head: cut off theirs.
4. Blades don’t need reloading.
5. Ideal protection = tight clothes, short hair.
6. Get up the staircase, then destroy it.
7. Get out of the car, get onto the bike.
8. Keep moving, keep low, keep quiet, keep alert!
9. No place is safe, only safer.
10. The zombie may be gone, but the threat lives on.
Don’t be carefree and foolish with your most precious asset—life. This book is your key to survival against the hordes of undead who may be stalking you right now without your even knowing it. The Zombie Survival Guide offers complete protection through trusted, proven tips for safeguarding yourself and your loved ones against the living dead. It is a book that can save your life."
The complete of Max Brooks' work can be found at this link.
There you go folks. Friday tomorrow!
No comments:
Post a Comment