The Lake House - James Patterson

Overall Rating : D-.

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This is the sequel to Patterson's 1998 book, When The Wind Blows, and is not to be confused with the film "The Lakehouse" (one word) with Sandra Bullock, which has absolutely no relationship to this book.

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As in WTWB, six genetically-engineered "bird kids" get help from a (female) Colorado veterinarian and a (male) decommissioned FBI agent against an evil doctor intent on on turning them into lab rats.

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What's To Like...

It's your typical James Patterson novel. Fast-reading, fast-moving, and the average length of a chapter is 3-4 pages. So if you're in the habit of reading before going to bed (like I am), you won't have to read very far when it's time to turn out the lights.

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What's Not To Like...

Unfortunately, plenty. Like most readers, I thoroughly enjoy Patterson's "Alex Cross" detective series. But either he's burnt out on serial-killer thrillers, or else he thinks anyone can write a Cri-Fi novel.

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Alas, he's no Michael Crichton. He takes no time to try to convince you of the scientific validity of the "genetic engineering" theme in these two books, so you never really feel like it could be real.

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At least WTWB is moderately interesting. Alas, there's nothing new added by Patterson in the sequel. Same plot, same chase scenes, same type of bad guys (evil but bumbling), same ending. Except now, everything is more-sloppily done.

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Dr. Nefarious has a lucrative "entire internal organ transplant" business going. He's rejuvenated 40 of the world's leaders, and is therefore both insanely rich and insanely powerful. Why he would want to jeopardize all this for 6 bird-kids is an unexplained mystery.

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To boot, he's cloned himself. Four times, even. And apparently does a heap of Balco Barry steroids, cuz he's also incredibly strong. And he can tell your IQ just by looking at you when you're sleeping. But he's not too intelligent. After he (and his gang of clones, thugs and hired assassins) are out-smarted and out-fought several times by the bird-kids, including having one of his clone-selves eradicated, what does he do? Attempts to kill the chief bird-kid, all by himself, armed only with a scalpel. Go on now, guess who wins.

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Nothing gets resolved at the end. The bird-kids kill one Evil-Doctor-Clone and one Rejuvenated-World-Leader; then the original Dr. Nefarious is killed at the very end. But you're never told what happens to the organ-tranplant rejuvenating business after that. Custody of the bird-kids is transferred from their natural parents (who want to retain custody) to the Vet and FBI-ex-agent, even though it's obvious from both books that this doesn't make them one bit safer. And the remaining three Evil Clones are left to do... well, whatever three now-leaderless clones do. Look for a fourth for a pinochle game, maybe?

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And on, and on. A 7th-grader could do a better job of crafting a plot and tying up loose ends than Patterson does here.

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When Border's Has A Book On Sale, It Means...

I found this book on sale at Borders Bookstore. Not on their regular bargain tables. Nope, TLH had its own table and was 30% off. That makes it a good deal, right?

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Wrong. It's clear that based on Patterson's reputation, they bought tons of copies of this book, and the books weren't selling. Jimmy-Boy was pulling a fast one. My best guess is that he fooled the publishing company; the publishers then fooled the bookstores; and the bookstores then fooled the readers. I feel like Curly in The Three Stooges. Moe slaps Larry; Larry slaps Curly; and Curly discovers he has no one to slap.

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But I digress. This is a stinker of a novel. When The Wind Blows is so-so, so if you want to see how Patterson fares at writing Cri-Fi, read it, and skip this sequel. And learn a lesson as to why Borders Bookstore gives books like this their own special sale.

Where Have All the Leaders Gone? - Lee Iacocca

Overall Rating : B.

.A few months back, I received an e-mail titled "The Nine C's of Leadership". It basically slammed the daylights out of Dubnutz, and was purportedly written by none other than Lee Iacocca.

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I was intrigued that one of our industrial giants might actually have the chutzpah to tell it like it is, but also little leery because of all the right-wing bullsh*t lies circulated by the repugnican chicken-hawks. So I went out on the Internet and found that this indeed was written by Iacocca, and was from his new book, Where Have All The Leaders Gone?

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I'm not a big fan of celebrity-penned books (do we really want to hear Paris Hilton's philosophy of Life?), but went down to Borders and bought WHATLG anyway.

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Oh, and I forwarded the 9-C's e-mail to all my ditto-head friends (you have a lot of these when you live in Arizona and work for a chemical manufacturing company), and waited for their rebuttals. But apparently Rush hasn't told them was to think about it yet, since I only got one response, and that in effect said that Lee should be more grateful since we bailed him out when he was the CEO of Chrysler. Talk about a tepid counter-point.

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What's To Like...

The Nine C's of Leadership segment is eloquently written. In fact, the first third of WHATLG is all about politics, and the Chimperor and his lackeys fare very poorly. Talk about some wonderful chapters!

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Lee Iacocca wrote the whole book in a "chit-chat" style, making it very easy to read. And he covers every topic you can think of - the environment, the auto industry, rising gas prices, outsourcing, medical research, running for office, etc. So if it's in the headlines today, chances are Lee has, and gives, an opinion.

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What's Not To Like...

While Lee's take on politics is great, when he gets to discussing the auto industry (which is obviously near and dear to his heart), I was "able to put the book down".

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He covers a slew of topics, but a lot of them are done with a cursory approach. Can you really solve the issue of "How To Deal With Rising Gas Prices" in a mere five pages?

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There's also s lot of name-dropping in here. Wanna know what advice Lee gave the Pope? Do you really think the Pope was impressed?

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If You Can Find A Better Book, Buy It...

Bottom line - it's a good book. You may or may not get tired of Lee's "chit-chat" style. And while you might have to plod through a couple of topics that you frankly don't care about, most of them are of high-interest.

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There was one issue that really stuck with me - medical research. Lee's first wife died of diabetes, and he is determined to find a cure. To that end, he started a diabetes research foundation. What he discovered about MedRes is that no one is really interested in finding a cure. What's important is to get government grants year after year. So if/when your foundation actually happens upon a breakthrough (as was the case with Iacocca's group), the rest of the researchers in that field will not be happy. In fact, they'll be downright hostile.

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What's the worst thing that can happen to, say, the American Cancer Society? You got it - finding a cure for cancer. Such an event would not only end their reason for existence, but also end their goverment $$$. I had this pointed out many years ago. About once a year, ACS will make an "exciting" announcement. New wonder drug - (insert random chemical compound here) - shows promise in curing some types of cancer in mice!! More tests are needed to see if it works on humans!!!

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And then, that's about all you ever hear about it. Coincidentally, they make this announcement right about the time they have to apply for more grant-money from the government. Twelve months later, they make a new "exciting" announcement, touting a new wonder-chemical. Nothing is said about last year's exciting discovery.

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Now that I've let you in on this, watch for the next "exciting announcement" from the ACS, and then sit back and be amazed how this scam plays out every year.

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But I digress. Where Have All The Leaders Gone? is a good read. Give it as a Christmas present to all your ditto-head friends.

The Third Secret - Steve Berry

Overall Rating : B.

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If you liked Dan Brown's Angels and Demons, you'll like The Third Secret. There's Vatican intrigue and nasty skullduggery as Cardinals wallow in politics to increase their odds of being the next Pope.

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What's To Like...

Berry has throroughly researched several Marian Apparitions and Catholic Prophecies; and weaves them skillfully into the plot. He concentrates on three of them : The Malachy "Prophecies of the Popes"; the Three Secrets of Fatima, and the Ten Secrets of Medugorje. The Fatima secrets are by far the most famous, and the "uber-secret" Third Secret of Fatima provides the title to this book.

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Amazingly, Berry manages to combine these three prophetic events into one coherent message, without compromising their historical background. All three are in fact non-fiction events, and can be found at Wikipedia.

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I also like the "even treatment" Berry gives God and the Church. Most authors choose one side or the other. Either their book finds nothing good to say at all about Christianity, or else its a thinly-veiled call for you to get right with God. Berry's posture falls halfway between "Heaven and Hell", so to speak.

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What's Not To Like...

If you're a loyal Catholic, you're not going to like this any more than you liked the Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons.

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Also, you go through almost the entire book waiting for The Third Secret to be revealed, and when it finally does... well... it's quite the anticlimax. In fairness, it has to be said that the Vatican's official version of The Third Secret is just as much of a letdown, fueling speculation that they gave us a red herring.

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Finally, the protagonist is just too "pure evil" to be believable. I have no doubt that getting elected Pope is all about politics and nothing about seeking God's guidance, but the depths of the misdeeds here come off as too contrived.

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Mail Hairy, Gruel of Face...

The Third Secret is not gonna bump Jurassic Park and The Da Vinci Code from the pinnacle of Cri-Fi. But it's a good read, about interesting subjects, and the Mary-sightings and Papal Prophecies are well-researched.

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So we'll give it a solid "B", and refer you over to Wikipedia for some good readings on the "real" Fatima, Medugorje, and Malachy topics. The Vatican's stance on these sorts of things is surprisingly tepid.

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It should be noted that the Malachy Papal Prophecies, which in theory give visions of the (at the time) next 112 Popes have now reached #111. Which makes you wonder if there's an implied "end of the world" or "end of an era" coming just around the corner. Berry weaves this nicely into the book, but the historical prophecies are almost more captivating.

1633 - Eric Flint and David Weber

Overall Rating : B+.

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The sequel to 1632. David Weber was apparently brought in to add a "big name" to the series. Which is kind of a waste, since I've never heard of him.

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In 1633, our intrepid band of modern-day hillbillies have stopped slaughtering 17th century armies, and now are trying their hands at diplomacy & politics. There's not as much action as in 1632, but it's an interesting read neverthless.

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What's To Like...

Again, the meticulous historical researching shows through. The historical figures of Oliver Cromwell, King Charles of England, Thomas Wentworth, Don Oquendo, and (Swedish) Princess Kristina are all introduced. Cardinal Richelieu is fleshed out, and if he can't be loved as the Ultimate Evil, he can at least be admired for his deadly charm and intelligence.

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The French, British, Spaniards and Danes become the bad guys. The hillbillies, Swedes, Dutch and German peasants are the good guys. And unlike in 1632, some of the good guys actually die. albeit in a most heroic fashion.

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The bad guys even manage some military victories, something sadly lacking in 1632. I have the impression that Weber's hand is to thank for the "evening-out" of characters, events, luck, victories, etc.

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What's Not To Like...

Mike Stearns is still the consummate Ubermann. If he was the paragon of military perfection in 1632, here he makes 17th Century politics seem like childsplay. He may have to admit that Admiral Simpson now has some redeeming qualities, but Admiral Simpson has to admit that Stearns is perfect in everything he does.

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More unsettling is the large number of "loose ends" here. Ollie Cromwell is introduced but is still imprisoned in the Tower of London at the end of the book. Amsterdam is under siege. The Danes are threatening to conquer Germany. Richelieu is conniving like crazy. One gets the feeling that Flint is going to pull a "Robert Jordan" - that is, resort to the never-ending sequel.

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In conclusion...

It's still a very good Alternate History story. There are tedious parts (mostly when Flint gets to preaching his personal political philosophies), but David Weber supplies a much-needed counterbalance to Flint's sometimes too-shallow plot- and character-development. We can only hope that the loose ends don't go on for another 12 books or so.

1632 - Eric Flint

Overall Rating : B+

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You'll find 1632 in the Sci Fi section of your local bookstore. But there's no science fiction, other than a brief opening reference to "the Assiti shards". Which in reality is just a literary device to transpose a West Virginia town from 2000 into 17th Century Germany and the 30 Years War. Can 20th Century technology and hillbilly determination change European history, presumably for the better? That's what the book explores.

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What's To Like...

It's obvious that Eric Flint thoroughly researched this era. And it's nice that the West Virginians get dropped into a place-&-time that most of us are unfamiliar with. Much better and more original than plopping them into, say, Pearl Harbor 1941, or Custer's Last Stand.

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Also, distracting stuff like Romance and Social Drama are kept to a bare minimum. Hey, we're reading this for the historical musing; not some sappy love story.

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Finally, Flint doesn't fall into the trap of penning a right-wing action diatribe. For instance, there are inter-racial, inter-religious, and inter-dimensional marriages for the reader to come to grips with. Plus issues like "English-only" and Women's Lib. No soapbox oratory on such subjects; they're just presented; you get to see how the 1633 Germans react to them, and you can then form (or reflect upon) your own opinions.

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What's Not To Like...

Not much. I guess my main quibble is how the main protagonist - Mike Stearns - is portrayed. This is Mr. Perfect. He's handsome, charismatic, and a born organizer and leader. He grasps 17th Century European politics and warfare instantly, like they are Sesame Street concepts. Not bad for a hillbilly.

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The Europeans come off as little more than Neanderthals. They get slaughtered in battles due to being out-gunned and out-technologied. And instead of trying to steal the West Virginians' incredible toys, they just charge again, and get chopped to ribbons again.

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Then there's the incredible talents and achievements by the rest of the West Virginians. By fortuitous chance, there's a refinery in their town. Okay, I'll allow that for the sake of the plot. But the operators are the most innovative of fellows - they know how to build a new refinery, from scratch, and via 300-year-old materials of construction. Methinks if you really wanted to accomplish this, it would have been prudent to also time-warp the Engineering Department from West Virginia University.

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Ditto for a West Virginian pilot. Not only can he fly a plane, but if you give him a couple trees and some duct tape, he can build a second plane, albeit, of WW1 design.

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Then there's the Olympics medal-winning female sharpshooter that also by good fortune gets time-warped, and who enables the out-manned Americans to constantly take out all the bad-guy leaders.

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Finally, there's the Women's Libber & Pacifist - Melissa Mailey, who finds true love and cosmic happiness in 1632 Germany, but only after she's thrown off those too-modern attitudes. I can accept that 20th Century issues might be irrelevant in 17th Century Germany. But it's quite a stretch to think that abandoning one's lifelong ideals will somehow suddenly bring you inner peace.

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In conclusion...

Wikipedia gives some fascinating background on both Eric Flint and this series. To save us both some time and space, go there and read about it.

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There is a sequel in papaerback, unsurprisingly titled "1633". A review on it will follow shortly. There are several offshoot storylines, the majority of which were written by amateur fans of 1632, and with the active encouragement of Eric Flint. A threequel ("1634" of course) is in the works, as are several other Assiti shard time-warps, one of which reportedly involves sending George Washington back to ancient Rome.

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Overall, this is a fine book. 592 pages of history, alternate history, action, social commentary, and "what-if's". Definitely worth reading.

Silence of the Hams - Jill Churchill

Overall Rating : D+.

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We have a book-exchange where I work, and with a witty title like Silence Of The Hams, I just had to take this book home and read it.

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Alas, it was quite the disappointment. Mean Mr. Robert Stonecipher is found dead beneath a fallen rack of hams at the local deli. When his secretary also meets an untimely end soon thereafter, its time for soccer-mom Jane Jeffry and her best Shelley Nowack to take it upon themselves to investigate the deaths.

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Think "Murder She Wrote", except make Angela Lansbury a divorced Mom, raising two kids. The story plods along with our pair of sleuthettes chit-chatting with all the suspects and frankly getting nowhere fast. Jane's BF just happens to be the detective working on the case, who keeps giving her (and us) unwitting updates on his lack of progress. How convenient.

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Finally, 255 pages into the 278-page book, Jane decides to root through a bag of trash, picked up by her son, who conveniently works at the deli, who conveniently picked up the trash from around the deli several days after the "ham-incident", and who conveniently decided to bring said bag of trash home rather than throw it in a dumpster. Conveniently, there's the case-breaking clue in that trash.

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I dunno. Maybe this was targetting an audience of Junior High girls. It has all the plot-tension of a phone directory. But no $$$ were expended, so my only investment was a couple hours of my time. And at least the book was fast-reading.

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Jill Churchill's title motif apparently is witty take-offs of familiar book and movie titles. Besides SOTH, there are Grime and Punishment, A Farewell To Yarns, A Quiche Before Dying, The Class Menagerie, A Knife To Remember, and From Here To Paternity.

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If you enjoy Nancy Drew books, then this is your kind of story. Otherwise, it's skippable.

Ivan's War - Catherine Merridale

Overall Rating : C.

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I like reading historical non-fiction. If I can't read actual history, I'll gladly settle for Alternate History, but that's a subject for another time. I especially like reading about relatively unknown historical topics. After all, can there really be a "new angle" to, say, the Battle of Gettyburg, or D-Day? So a book about day-to-day life in the Red Army during WW2 is something that will naturally appeal to me.

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Catherine Merridale spared no effort in researching this book. She spent many weeks in Russia, interviewing old WW2 veterans and poring over recently-declassified documents.

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Unfortunately, one gets the feeling the Red Army vets never really opened up to her. So she was stuck with a mountain of documents to go through instead, knowing all the time that Stalin and his minions had probably sanitized the entire lot many decades ago.

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In the end, you get 400 pages of interesting, but highly selective and highly repetitive accounts. The book lacks any direction. Yes, it's laid out in roughly chronological order. But this is a book about the lives of the soldiers, not the campaigns. It would've been better to arrange the book by theme : "humor", "day-to-day living", "supplies", "the growth of patriotism" (or lack thereof), politics, etc.

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Instead, the book plods along retracing ad nauseum the same trite themes : it was cold, life was brutal, lots of soldiers perished, the Germans were brutes, etc. In 1941. In 1942. In 1943. In 1944. In 1945. You get the idea.

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This could've been a great book, but perhaps the fault lies with the Russian veterans for not providing anything of substance in Merridale's interviews. In any event, if you love to read history, it's won't disappoint you. But if you aren't a avid history-phile, perhaps it's better to read The Longest Day.

Knife of Dreams - Robert Jordan

Overall Rating : B+.

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I've been a fan of Robert Jordan's WoT series since I wandered into the local Walden's Bookstore years ago and found them handing out *FREE* copies of the first half of Book One. Smart marketing there. Now, 11 books and nearly 10,000 pages later (which Jason tells me works out to and estimated 2½ million words), I'm still hooked on it.

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KoD is, as always, a superb narrative of the various characters in Robert Jordan's world. If there is a criticism, it is the usual one - you can tear out the first half of the book and not miss any plot-advancement. Elayne's been trying to win the Lion Throne of Andor for a couple books now; she still is. Mat's been trying to figure out women (specifically, Tuon) for two books; he still is. Perrin has been planning how to rescue his wife Faile for three books at least; he still is. About the only "progress" to the story in the first half of KoD is following Egwene as she sets about to undermine Elaida in the White Tower, all while being spanked thrice daily in an attempt to rehabilitate her.

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But if the first half drags with regards to the overall plot, the second half more than makes up for it. All of the above sub-plots are resolved (except for Egwene/Elaida); and Rand withstands yet another attack of 10-gazillion trollocs (how DO they always seem to know where he is?), only to lose his left hand in an encounter with Semirhage. To boot, there is reason to believe Moiraine will make an encore appearance in the next Book.

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Speaking of which, we are promised by Robert Jordan that the next book (tentatively titled "A Memory of Light") will finish the saga, even if it takes 1500 pages. Alas, RJ has some very serious health problems at present (see the Wikipedia entry on him for details), which makes the slated release date (early 2009) for aMoL quite problematic. It has long been my fear that RJ might "pull a Tolkien" and shuffle off this mortal coil before finishing WoT.

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So we'll give KoD a B+ rating, taking off points mostly for the plot-dragging over its first half. It's still an excellent book.

1812 - The Rivers of War - Eric Flint

Overall Rating : B-..

Eric Flint has a bunch of Alternate History books out, the majority of which deal with a 20th-century West Virginia town transported back in time to 1632 Germany. 1812RoW is the first in his next AH series, this one dealing with how a minor change in a battle (Sam Houston receiving a small wound instead of a major one) alters the rest of the War of 1812.
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The only problem is - not much history is changed. Yeah, Sam Houston becomes the hero of the battles of Washington DC and New Orleans, but the outcomes remain the same. So if you're looking for some tangential history line, you're going to be sorely disappointed. True, this book serves mostly as a set-up for the second book in this series - where Arkansas becomes a free territory right after the end of the war - where blacks and Indians can live on their own terms. But 535 pages of non-alternate history is a lot to read just for a set-up.
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OTOH, is you read this book as a historical novel, then its quite good. Most people's knowledge of the War of 1812 can be distilled down to four vague facts :

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1.) It started cuz the British kept stealing our navy men.
2.) John Paul Jones said something about not giving up the ship.
3.) Two years into the war, the British burned Washington D.C. (normally, this means "game over; we win!". but for some reason, they decided to play on.)
4.) We won the Battle of New Orleans, which is important because without that Johnny Horton would've had one less hit song. (Everybody sing now - "In 1814, we took a little trip...").This book does a great job of fleshing out the details of the war - particularly how the roles of the Indians (Choctaw, Chickashaw, Creek, and Cherokee) and Blacks (both slaves and freedmen) interplayed with the British, American (and to a lesser degree the French and Spanish) sides.

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So if you like History, then by all means get this book. But if you want to read some Alternate History, then pick up his novel 1632 (which is on my bookcase waiting in line to be read), or wait for 1824 The Arkansas War - which is out in hardback, but who wants to shell out 4x the $$$ instead of waiting for the paperback?

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As for me, I'm now starting into Robert Jordan's Knife of Dreams - Book 11 in the Wheel of Time series. I'll have 837 pages to see whether the plot advances one iota, something that hasn't happened in 4 or 5 volumes.

Black Market - James Patterson

Overall Rating : C+.

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I'm way behind on my James Patterson reading. His best efforts involve serial killers and the homicide detective Alex Cross. Unfortunately, Black Market has neither. Wall Street gets blown up, and we spend most of the first half of the book going on wild goose chases. Finally, the story begins to move, and there are a couple nice Dan Brown-esque twists in the latter stages. Still, one yearns for a deranged psychotic killer to show up and slash someone to pieces - anyone - just to spice things up.

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What is eerie about this book, however, is the way it foreshadows September 11. Black Market first came out in 1986, and if you substitute the Twin Towers for Wall Street, you get a scenario with uncanny similarities. Perhaps in 500 years, someone will decide that Patterson was a 20th-Century Nostredamus.

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All-in-all, it's a decent story, but its never gonna be your favorite Patterson book.

Dune - Battle of Corrin - Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson

Overall Rating : B- .

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A sequel in a prequel to Frank Herbert's "Dune" Trilogy. Written by his son Brian, and Kevin Anderson. Tell me, how do two authors write one story? Does one of them write the nouns, and the other one the verbs? Methinks Brian Herbert is here mostly so the family name is on the cover.

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As in any prequel, the main raison d'etre for this book is to line up everything for the original Dune episode. But the basic plot is the overused "humans versus machines" line. Gee, where have we seen that before? Terminator, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, and so on. Is it now politically incorrect to slay any living beings? Can't anyone come up with a storyline that doesn't involve the evils of Artificial Intelligence?

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Literature-wise, this is "Dune Lite". Which is not necessarily a bad thing. The original Dune was an awesome book, but Dune Messiah and Children Of Dune were each a new level of tediousness and obscurity compared to their predecessors. Reading CoD was (for me at least) more of a labor than a pleasure.

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This decline in quality seems to be inherent in Trilogies. Clan of the Cave Bear is a masterpiece, interweaving a captivating storyline with a bunch of great archaeology. But its sequels go downhill quickly. Valley of Horses slowed to a crawl, and The Mammoth Hunters is nothing more than a 600-page Harlequin Romance set in caveman times. Pee-Yoo!

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And don't even get me started about Robert Jordan's Dragon Reborn series. We're on what, Book 11 now? And the plot hasn't progressed one bit since about Book 5. But I will still buy and read the newest one - out just in time for Christmas.

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But back to Dune Battle of Corrin. Overall, it keeps one's interest despite the trite storyline. Papa Herbert's chapter-beginning quotes are better (and of course, more esoteric), but at least there's less mysticism and more action in DBoC. And none of the characters (including the Bots) are the essence of pure evil and/or pure good. So we'll give it a B-, and go dust-off and re-read Dune.

2026 Book List

 

01) Nobody's Girl by Virginia Roberts Giuffre
02) The Spellmans Strike Again by Lisa Lutz

03) Isle of the Dead by Roger Zelazny

04) Academ's Fury by Jim Butcher

05) Language and Responsibility by Noam Chomsky

06) Curses! by Aaron Elkins

07) The Better Mousetrap by Tom Holt

08) Once We Were Like Wolves by M. Todd Gallowglas

09) An Easy Death by Charlaine Harris

10) Triggerfish Twist by Tim Dorsey

11) Go Dwarf Yourself by Martha Carr & Michael Anderle

12) Starship Ass - Of Donkeys, Gods, and Space Pirates by Ethan Freckleton & J.R. Frontera

13) Being Ram Dass by Ram Dass

14) Kingdom of Bones by James Rollins

15) Inspector Hobbes and the Common People by Wilkie Martin

16) Point Blank by Catherine Coulter

17) Red Rising by Pierce Brown

18) Yellow Ribbon by Mike Faricy

19) McNally's Luck by Lawrence Sanders

20) Who Knew Tasmanian Tigers Eat Apples! by John Martin

21) October by China Miéville

22) A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

23) The Truth by Terry Pratchett

24) A Treacherous Curse by Deanna Raybourn

25) Calculated Whisk by Lindsay Buroker

26) Sourdough by Robin Sloan

27) Diablo Mesa by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

28) The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

29) Useless Etymology by Jess Zafarris

30) Slow Burn - Zero Day by Bobby Adair

31) The Lord of the Ring Roads by Robert Rankin

32) The Inimitable Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

33) Starter Villain by John Scalzi

34) Schrodinger's Gat by Robert Kroese

35) Eleven On Top by Janet Evanovich

36) Murphy's Luck 4 - Jinx vs. Fate by Benjamin Laskin

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2025 Book List

 

01) Small Favour by Jim Butcher
02) A Storm Hits Valparaiso by David Gaughran

03) Sunday the Rabbi Stayed Home by Harry Kemelman

04) An Argumentation of Historians by Jodi Taylor

05) Sprout Mask Replica by Robert Rankin

06) Druids by Anne Ross

07) British Mammals by Richard Herley

08) The Anvil of the World by Kage Baker

09) The Providence Rider by Robert McCammon

10) Ye Gods! by Tom Holt

11) I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

12) How to Pick Up Women with a Drunk Space Ninja by Jay Key

13) The Summer of the Danes by Ellis Peters

14) Double Trouble by Mike Faricy

15) Contact by Carl Sagan

16) Zeus Is Dead by Michael G. Munz

17) Dance of the Winnebagos by Ann Charles

18) The Dark Deeps by Arthur Slade

19) The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson

20) Pineapple Grenade by Tim Dorsey

21) Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov

22) A Dragon, A Gargoyle, and A Faery Walk into a Pub by Lisa Barry and Nicole Dragonbeck

23) Normanghast by Robert Rankin

24) The Closers by Michael Connelly

25) Justinian's Empire by Nick Holmes

26) Coffee Tea or Me? by Donald Bain

27) Lost Is the Night by Greg James

28) Project Daedalus by Thomas Hoover

29) Moriarty Meets His Match by Anna Castle

30) Eye of Cat by Roger Zelazny

31) Soul Music by Terry Pratchett

32) The Devil Wears Scrubs by Freida McFadden

33) David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell

34) Verses For the Dead by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child.

35) Hope For the Best by Jodi Taylor

36) Brightside by Mark Tullius

37) Monday the Rabbi Took Off by Harry Kemelman

38) Rise of the Forgotten by Scott Baron

39) Silk Road by Colin Falconer

40) Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris

41) Redneck Kaiju by Wil Radcliffe

42) Vita Brevis by Ruth Downie

43) Unwanted: Dead or Alive by Gene Shelton

44) A Dead Red Gamble by R.P. Dahlke

45) Edgedancer by Brandon Sanderson

46) Brothers Keepers by Donald Westlake

47) Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz

48) Deadeye Dick by Kurt Vonnegut

49) Hermitage, Wat and Some Druids by Howard of Warwick

50) The Dance of the Voodoo Handbag by Robert Rankin

51) The Beggar King by Oliver Potzsch

52) Fall of the Dark Magicians by Marlin Williams

53) Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell

54) The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump by Harry Turtledove

55) Sinister Magic by Lindsay Buroker

56) Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz

57) The End of Antiquity by Nick Holmes

58) Pursuit of the Apocalypse by Benjamin Wallace

59) The Catiline Conspiracy by John Maddox Roberts

60) A Perilous Undertaking by Deanna Raybourn

61) Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle

62) Murphy's Luck 3: Curse vs. Jinx by Benjamin Laskin

2024 Book List

 

01) Something The Cat Dragged In by Charlotte MacLeod
02) Subterranean by James Rollins
03) Hermitage, Wat, and Some Murder or Other by Howard of Warwick

04) Raft by Stephen Baxter

05) The Fall of Rome by Nick Holmes

06) Lies, Damned Lies, and History by Jodi Taylor

07) Still Life With Murder by P.B. Ryan

08) Clockwork Legion by Jamie Sedgwick

09) They Came and Ate Us by Robert Rankin

10) Daybreak 2250 AD by Andre Norton

11) Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice

12) Revenge of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz

13) Rome and Attila by Nick Holmes

14) The Night of Four Hundred Rabbits by Elizabeth Peters

15) Chasing Daisy by Scott Baron

16) Goya by Rose-Marie & Rainer Hagen

17) Exile by R.A. Salvatore

18) Beyond the Ice Limit by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

19) From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris

20) A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton

21) Twelve Years A Slave by Solomon Northup

22) Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett

23) Ambrose, Prince of Wessex; Trader of Kiev by Bruce Corbett

24) Crickett by Mike Faricy

25) The Buntline Special by Mike Resnick

26) Starfall by Jamie Sedgwick

27) You Only Live Once by Haris Orkin

28) The Bear Went Over the Mountain by William Kotzwinkle

29) The Devil Colony by James Rollins

30) To The Nines by Janet Evanovich

31) Maphead by Ken Jennings

32) Only Human by Tom Holt

33) Old Bones by Aaron Elkins

34) The Sun Kings by Stuart Clark

35) Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

36) And The Rest Is History by Jodi Taylor

37) Daisy's War by Scott Baron

38) Bethlehem Road by Anne Perry

39) The Worst Class Trip Ever by Dave Barry

40) The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham

41) The Rabbit Factor by Antti Tuomainen

42) Saturday The Rabbi Went Hungry by Harry Kemelman

43) The Collected What If edited by Robert Cowley

44) You Are Doomed (Sign Here Please) by Andrew Stanek

45) Stormy Weather by Carl Hiaasen

46) 2010: Odyssey Two by Arthur C. Clarke

47) Revenge of the Jinx by Benjamin Laskin

48) Captain Hawklin At War by Charles F. Millhouse

49) Any Day Now by Terry Bisson

50) Burglars Can't Be Choosers by Lawrence Block

51) My Hitch in Hell by Lester I. Tenney

52) Graves' End by Sean Patrick Traver

53) The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco

54) Mythology 101 by Jody Lynn Nye

55) Unnatural Exposure by Patricia Cornwell

56) The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

57) The Invention of Yesterday by Tamim Ansary

58) The Maker of Universes by Philip José Farmer

59) The Great Troll War by Jasper Fforde

60) Bulldog by Mike Faricy

61) Blasphemy by Douglas Preston

62) Fuzz by Mary Roach

63) Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke

64) In the Heart of Darkness by Eric Flint & David Drake

65) Brother Hermitage's Christmas Gift by Howard of Warwick

66) Ten Big Ones by Janet Evanovich

67) The Last Moriarty by Charles Veley

68) A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett

2023 Book List

 
01) Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
02) The Dark Monk by Oliver Potzsch

03) Daisy's Run by Scott Baron

04) The Rembrandt Stratagem by Kellie Austin

05) Hard Eight by Janet Evanovich

06) The Philosophy Book by Will Buckingham

07) The Lost Adventures of Captain Hawklin, Volume 1 by Charles F. Millhouse

08) Call Me A Cab by Donald E. Westlake

09) Under A Colder Sun by Greg James

10) White Night by Jim Butcher

11) Off to be the Wizard by Scott Meyer

12) The Ninja's Daughter by Susan Spann

13) 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed by Eric H. Cline

14) Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis

15) You Are a Ghost (Sign Here Please) by Andrew Stanek

16) What If? 2 by Randall Munroe

17) The Sandman - Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman

18) Just Pardon My French by Jinx Schwartz

19) The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe

20) Simple Simon by Ryne Douglas Pearson

21) No Time Like The Past by Jodi Taylor

22) The God Particle by Leon Lederman

23) The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare by Lilian Jackson Braun

24) Mister Slaughter by Robert McCammon

25) Conrad Monk and the Great Heathen Army by Edoardo Albert

26) A Second Chance at Eden by Peter F. Hamilton

27) Dust by Hugh Howey

28) Murder in the Queen's Armes by Aaron Elkins

29) A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn

30) A Count of Five by Erin L. Snyder

31) City of Endless Night by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

32) All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris

33) Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey

34) Nothing But Blue Skies by Tom Holt

35) Death By Disputation by Anna Castle

36) Bob Moore: No Hero by Tom Andry

37) Stonehenge by Bernard Cornwell

38) A Mighty Long Way by Carlotta Walls LaNier

39) Bring Me the Head of Prince Charming by Roger Zelazny and Robert Sheckley

40) Heat by Stuart Woods

41) A Dead Red Miracle by RP Dahlke

42) Iron Council by China Miéville

43) Pushing Daisy by Scott Baron

44) Sword of Destiny by Andrzej Sapkowski

45) Murder Afloat by Ruby Riverton

46) Six Days of the Condor by James Grady

47) Superfreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

48) Phule's Company by Robert Asprin

49) Police by Jo Nesbo

50) Murphy's Luck by Benjamin Laskin

51) What Could Possibly Go Wrong? by Jodi Taylor

52) Knights of the Apocalypse by Benjamin Wallace

53) Razzmatazz by Christopher Moore

54) The Tapestry of Death by Howard of Warwick

55) Visions by Michio Kaku

56) The Relfe Sisters by Richard Herley

57) Double Whammy by Carl Hiaasen

58) The Roman Revolution by Nick Holmes

59) Night's Master by Tanith Lee

60) Darklandia by T.S. Welti

61) The King's Deception by Steve Berry

62) Stargazer by Anne Hillerman

63) Dodger by Terry Pratchett

64) Daisy's Gambit by Scott Baron

65) Hounded by Kevin Hearne

66) Huntress Moon by Alexandra Sokoloff

67) The Eight Reindeer of the Apocalypse by Tom Holt

68) Marked By Magic by Lindsay Buroker

69) The Emperor's Second Wife by Zoe Saadia

70) Otherlands by Thomas Halliday

71) Mission Clockwork by Arthur Slade