[2011] What are you reading?

That's always a tricky question because my very tip-top list fluctuates depending on the mood I'm in.

I have to put The Book Thief by Markus Zusak way up there among my all-time favorites. It's classified as young adult, which is a crime. The writing style (told first person from death) is haphazard and sometimes veers into very non-traditional forms, but the story (about a girl growing up with foster parents just outside Munich during WWII) is beautiful. There are so many memorable moments from that book that stick in my mind. I reread it recently and kept smiling as I revisited favorite scenes.

City of Thieves by David Benioff is a coming of age tale set in Russia during WWII, about an uncertain young man and a lothario embark on a fool's errand through war torn Russia.

Water for Elephants is a great flashback story told during the Great Depression and following a traveling circus.

Pillars of the Earth and its sequel World Without End were great epic historical fiction novels.

I thought The Time Traveler's Wife was a beautiful love story about a couple's life with the added plot element that the husband randomly travels back and forth through time. This doesn't read like a sci-fi novel.

Robert McCammon's Matthew Corbett series (Speaks the Nightbird, Queen of Bedlam, and Mister Slaughter) are gritty, engrossing books about the evolution of a colonial era Sherlock Holmes. I'm really looking forward to The Five, which is his newest novel out on May 31.

I am thoroughly enjoying Garth Stein's How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets and expect to like his other novel as well. I'll have full write ups on these very soon. I expect to finish them both by early next week. Stein's writing is addictive.

One of the things I like to do when I love a book is go to Amazon and look the book up, and peruse what customers who bought this book bought. When I looked up Shadow of the Wind, it returned several of the books I just listed above, which is probably why I read them in the first place. I picked up Shadow of the Wind on a whim at an airport bookstore and couldn't sleep that night until I finished the book. I then embarked on one of the best reading streaks I've ever had, almost entirely based on Amazon recommendations from Shadow of the Wind.

 

You can get his book cheaper on Amazon or BN, but if you follow the link on his website (robertmccammon.com) and purchase the book there, he'll autograph it to you personally as long as you buy by May 1.

Stephen King read it recently and raved about The Five:

I'm really excited about this book. I wish I could read it next. How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets centers around a very talented, but kind of washed up guitarist, so I'm in the mood to read more literature featuring music and musicians.

Also of note for you, Rimrocker, McCammon wrote a blog post recently about what all he's working on and he teases with a bit of information on The Providence Rider (book 4 for Matthew Corbett). It was already my most anticipated novel of 2012, but now I'm even more excited. I'm so glad this guy came out of hibernation, because he's writing some really stellar stuff.

 

It's always tricky reading a book with high expectations. I loved The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein, probably enough to keep it on my top 5 favorite novels of all time. It made it a no-brainer to pick up Garth Stein's other two novels, and I tried to temper my expectations and judge this book on its own merits. However, I can't help but compare Stein's works since I'm reading them all so closely lumped together.

Is How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets as stellar as The Art of Racing in the Rain? No. Is it a good book? Yes.

How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets featured the titular Evan, an epileptic guitar genius, who had a top ten hit over a decade ago but is now kind of washed up. The book starts with him going to the funeral of his former high school girlfriend and meeting his 14 year old son, Dean, for the time and before long Evan has custody of the boy. Much of the story has Evan struggling to deal with Dean and other new events that enter his life as well as untangle the history behind his epilepsy (How Evan Broke His Head) and well, Other Secrets.

I really like Garth Stein's writing style. It's very vivid, approachable, and engaging. I found myself plowing through this book, eager to stay up just a bit longer to read more. He wove a number of plots together pretty well, and there was some good scenes, especially when Evan lets fly with his guitar.

My chief problem with this book was Evan is kind of a frustrating character. His history has caused him to build up all kinds of walls around himself for protection, and I kept wanting to reach in the book and smack him so he would grow up. It's kind of a downer to read about someone being self-destructive, morose, and emotionally stunted. I hate comparing it to The Art of Racing in the Rain, but Enzo is a much more entertaining character to follow than Evan. Still we're not talking about Jeffery Eugenides. There is a good bit of sunshine in Evan at times.

Overall, I liked this book, mainly due to Stein's great writing abilities. If you loved The Art of Racing in the Rain, it's worth checking out.

Up next: Raven Stole the Moon. I'm kind of sad that this is the last book by Garth Stein. The dude needs to get his next novel out soon.

 

It was a fascinating and memorable story. Stephenson really pulled some very disparate plot threads spread out over half a century and assembled a pretty slick story.

However, his writing style is schizophrenic, jumping all over the map from chapter to chapter. It drove me crazy at some points.

I know some people who swear this is their favorite book of all time. I remember it vividly, but I haven't read any more Stephenson in over 7 years due to his writing style.

 

I finished Raven Stole the Moon. It was Garth Stein's first novel and came out over 13 years ago. After the stellar success of The Art of Racing in the Rain (top 10 bestseller for 2010 and deservedly so), his publishers asked him to reissue it. Apparently he cleaned up some vulgarity (there was still plenty of it), but mostly left the novel intact.

I liked this book. It deals with a woman two years after her young son drowned in Alaska. With her marriage on the rocks and still reeling from her son's loss, she decides to head back to her home town in Alaska and close to where her son died. The book jacket tells of her exploring her Native American heritage, but I was a bit surprised that this book read half like an emotional journey of Jenna and half Revenge of Vengeful Spirits.

Even written over a decade ago, Garth Stein's engaging writing style shines through. I kind of wish he hadn't gone down the road of Indian magic with this book (although I went down that same path with my first novel) and instead focused more on Jenna and her journey to heal and come to some sort of acceptance with her loss and her rocky marriage. Still I devoured the book and am kind of sad that I have no Garth Stein novels left to read.

This one is worth reading if you like Garth Stein, although if you're new to the author, you need to start with The Art of Racing in the Rain.

Up next: Joe Abercrombie's latest, The Heroes. I loved The First Law trilogy and the followup standalone, Best Served Cold. I'm looking forward to sinking my teeth into this book. I feel like I'm on a pretty decent run of books since I abandoned Erikson's series, and I'm pretty confident this novel will continue that streak.

 

These sound amazing. I might have to read them after I finish Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay. They seem like they might have some overlapping themes\culture.

 

I finished Joe Abercrombie's latest novel, The Heroes last week and thoroughly enjoyed it. Abercrombie has moved up to the very top of my list of current authors across any genre.

Abercrombie did a recent interview with Pat's Fantasy Hotlist about his work and what's coming next. After his First Last trilogy, Abercrombie has two of three planned stand alone novels set in the same storyline. The first was a gangster revenge story, The Heroes was a war story, and the next one will be a western. He'll follow that up with another trilogy.

I was a bit hesitant about reading a novel that followed a three day battle. I burnt out reading Erickson, and while I liked elements of his squad based approach, it bogged down and was a slog to read. Not Abercrombie. This three day battle was populated by a cast of several dozen major characters from both sides. All of them were flawed in one way or another, but you were always glad to see them come back into focus and to see how the story would unfold from their point of view. The story also built tension as you waited for some of these opposing characters to come into contact with each other. As is usual for Abercrombie, there was plenty of fighting and gore and loads of dark humor.

This story was obviously about a giant battle, but it didn't read that way. You really invested in these characters and had many perspectives from different fronts. I often found myself rooting for characters that seemed destined to come into conflict.

For those who have read Abercrombie's other works, a bunch of characters from the First Law make an appearance. While it might be 5 years or so out, I think Abercrombie's full series will rank as one of the epic best in fantasy when it's all complete.

Spoiler

It was great to see Bayaz, The Dogman, and Caul Shivers again. There was no Bloody Nine, but Abercrombie almost screamed from the rooftops "He's coming back!"

Gorst was such a fun character, fighting for redemption and with such a dour look on life, the courts, and himself. His letters to the King were ace, and I liked how Abercrombie let him taste success but still leave disappointed. His anticipated battle with Scale Calder was well-done, but I really enjoyed his throwdown with Whirrun of Bligh. Neither was up to the Bloody Nine-Feared battle, but I don't know if I've ever read a better fight scene.

I was a bit sad to see Whirrun lose, because he would have been an excellent character to read more of.

My sister got me to read The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman next. It was for young adults, but I figured it was by Gaiman so worth a shot. It was an okay book, but I definitely felt like I was reading a young adult novel with some thing plot points.

After The Graveyard Book, I tackled some books that had been in my library for a while: Joseph Delaney's The Last Apprentice series (or Spook's Apprentice as it's known the author's native UK).

It's geared for teenagers and kind of set in a Brother's Grimm version of the UK where cannons have been invented, but no guns or other technology. There are all sorts of nasties in the night: boggats, witches, ghost, ghasts, and more. These aren't scaled down for kids though. They will kidnap small children and drink their blood, and one of the ways to kill a witch for good is to eat her heart. So while it's written for young adults, it reads much more adult than Harry Potter.

I'm digging these so far, having blown through the first four in 5 days. It follows Tom, the seventh son of a seventh son, as he trains as an apprentice under The Spook, kind of a bad ass for hire that takes on the dark forces in the County.

There are a small number of central characters that continue to get development of each novel, and the overall story definitely seems like it's moving towards an event of some kind. I have no idea how many books this is planned to go (8 so far). I've been a bit hesitant to search out too much, because I don't want to have anything spoiled for me.

They are short, but good fun gripping reads.