Decided to read a Haruki Murakami book...I went with "South of the Border, West of the Sun". Im a very amateur reader, so Im not really sure what Im talking about...but he has a very poetic style to his writing. The book was in first person about a guys love life from middle school on through to his middle aged years. The writing style captured me and definitely made me identify with the narrator...his feelings, emotions, thoughts, etc... It was a very good, short read. Ive also heard he has other books that people enjoy more, so I will be sure to check those out.
I am reading Tricked while I wait for my wife to finish the third book in the Night Angel trilogy. The Night Angel series has been surprisingly fun - if a bit dark/disturbing at times. The author (Brent Weeks) does a great job with page turning prose, but his overall plots/storylines have left me a little disappointed. The scope of the storylines is fine, but a little too much repeated... 'wrap up this loose end with weak coincidences and a purple little bow'. The Iron Druid chronicles (Tricked is book 4) is a Dresden Files style series with a druid as the protagonist. If you really like the Dresden books, you might pick up book one. Yes, the Iron Druid chronicles has some great laugh out loud moments, but after book one, it has just been a time filler.
The Magister Trilogy by C.S. Friedman was thoroughly underwhelming. I appreciate Pat's Fantasy Hotlist as a good source of book news, author interviews, book reviews, and a source for new reading material, but this is the last time I pick up a series based on his recommendation alone. This trilogy was somewhere between mediocre and weak sauce. The characters were billed as complex and rich, but instead turned out to be whiny and utterly two-dimensional. The plot was confused, seemed to jump in weird directions because the author decided decreed it instead of a natural flow, and it was littered with deus ex machina plot devices. The first book was decent enough, but the second was bad, and the third was a train wreck. I kept reading to see if the ending would make up for the declining quality, but I was wasting my time. I was hoping to add another female fantasy author to my list of favorite authors, but it looks like Robin Hobb is the lone entry on that list. I would strongly advise skipping this series unless you like the bland and poorly characterized fantasy. I'm excited that the next book I'm reading is The Art of Racing in the Rain. It's the second time to tackle this awesome novel for me. We're covering it in a book club next week, and I'm one of the moderators so I'm having to take notes. But it's still just as much fun the second time around, and I have a different perspective after having dinner with Garth Stein a few weeks back. Enzo FTW!
I am about to start Blankets by Craig Thompson. Besides Watchmen, it is the graphic novel I hear most often recommended.
The Master and Margarita: Mikhail Bulgakov. I'm only a couple of chapters in but I'm pretty sure it's awesome.
I just registered and set up a ClutchFans group. This site looks pretty cool. I'll have start posting my book reviews there as well. When I have a bit more time, I'll add some of my favorites to the reading shelf for the ClutchFans group, but it's a public group so any of you can join and also start making your own recommendations.
Just finished Darkness Visible, by William Styron and An Unquiet Mind. An Unquiet Mind was good; Darkness Visible was great and quite an economic read, packing such a wallop in 84 pages. Now reading The Myth of Sisyphus, A First-Rate Madness, Lincoln's Melancholy, the play Cleansed by Sarah Kane, and Denial of Death. And some political news stuff and about 15 superhero comics each month. And Clutchfans. I can't focus on any one thing for too long.
