No.1 (for 2009), No. 43 (for 2008) - McTeague

by Frank Norris

Started: December 22, 2008
Finished: January 1, 2009

Notes: This is one of those forgotten novels of classic literature, written in 1899 if my memory serves correct. This novel was made into a 1924 silent movie called Greed, and I'm a fan of this movie (as I'm also a bit of a silent movie buff). This is a dark tale of a man who wins the lottery and the horrible fate that ensues, with one of the most bleak endings to a story I've ever seen on film (and I've read elsewhere the book has the same ending).

Mini review: Slow and pondering at first, though somewhat interesting, this tale really kicks in during the last 60 or so pages. Yep, the ending is as dark and bleak as I had expected. I won't say this novel blew me away, but it was definitely worth reading. Though it doesn't hit you over the head throughout, this is basically a morality tale about greed, but personal greed, not the anti-corporate greed stories that are so common nowadays.

No. 42 - Legend

by David Gemmell

Started: December 15
Finished: December 22

Notes: This is a pretty well-known modern author in the fantasy genre, and unfortunately I only discovered him once he had passed away last year. I have only read one book by him, but I was impressed enough to forge ahead into another. This book apparently was his first published novel, kicking off his career back in the 1980s.

Mini review: One of the best siege stories I've ever read. This was even better than the earlier Gemmell novel I read. The first 40 or so pages I found a bit slow, but it picked up fine and continued to speed along through the end. I'll be looking for more Gemmell novels.

No. 41 - Flashing Swords! #5: Demons and Daggers

edited by Lin Carter

Started: December 9
Finished: December 15

Notes: I wasn't blown away by Flashing Swords! #4, which I read a while back, but I didn't hate it enough not to give another book in the series a try. Here is a collection of tales by Roger Zelazny, C.J. Cherryh, Diane Duane, Craig Shaw Gardner and Tanith Lee. Lee and Cherryh I am familiar with, the others not so much.

Mini review: This book in the series was quite a bit better than the one I read earlier. My favorite tales were by Roger Zelazny and C.J. Cherryh. I was especially thrilled with Cherryh's tale because she was one of the original Thieves' World authors, and this tale definitely had that kind of ring to it.

No. 40 - The Ox-Bow Incident

by Walter Van Tilburg Clark

Started: December 1
Finished: December 9

Notes: This 1940 Western novel was made into a 1943 movie starring a young Henry Fonda. The movie is relatively well known for an older Western, and it's no shoot-em up. This is not an action story, though there is some violence involved. I'd seen this movie, liked it, then ran across the original book, which now I'll read.

Mini review: Boy, it took a long time for this one to get rolling, at least 140 pages, but it finally came to a fine ending. I wasn't impressed enough to want to search out more of this rare author, but he turned out a decent store with morals. The morality bits nearly slam you over the head sometimes, but for the most part it wasn't too bad.

No. 39 - The Road

by Cormac McCarthy

Started: November 29
Finished: November 30

Notes: This is one of those books (by one of those authors) that no one had heard of two years ago. Now, suddenly, the book and the author are the hottest thing. I'm giving them a shot.

Mini review: I didn't hate this book, but I felt somewhat underwhelmed. I expected something more, especially for a Pulitzer winner. The writing is pretty good, reminding me of Hemingway though not quite that sparse. The characters are ... hmm, well, they could kind of be anybody, though they're not bad. There's next to no back story. No history. No future. Just the here and now (not that there's anything wrong with that ... it was a nice change of pace in a lot of ways). The plot is practically non-existent, though there is one. I wasn't exactly bored reading this novel, but it didn't excite me either. I kept waiting for something to happen, and it never really does (it sort of does in the very end, but it's pretty much expected). One element that was very nice was the non-glorified realism of a post-apocalyptic world; this isn't an adventure story that turns the end of civilization into just a background for a shoot-em-up. No, this is pretty gritty in most ways (as far as I can tell, I've yet to live in a post-apocalyptic environment). So, I don't know. Didn't hate it. Didn't love it. Not really glad I read it, other than maybe to tell others "Hey, I read that." It's supposed to come out as a movie soon, but without a major rewrite I find it hard to believe this will make a good movie. All that being said, there's either a lot going on in this story that went over my head, or it's a post-apocalyptic version of Hemingway's "Old Man and the Sea." I might, after a few years, turn to this one again to see if I pick up anything new from it. Or I might just see the movie. Weird. I'm not really split on this book, I'm just not real clear about my reaction to it. Maybe that's a good thing.

No. 38 - Battle Royale

by Koushun Takami

Started: November 21
Finished: November 29

Notes: Though almost unknown in the U.S., "Battle Royale" has been quite the phenomenon in Japan the last ten years. I've seen the Japanese movie, and thought it brilliantly disturbing in its portrayal of violence, especially violence among young people (mainly 15-year-olds). So, this story obviously isn't for everyone. The plot is sort of a government-enforced "Lord of the Flies" story, but it's much more sinister than that, pitting junior high students in a death match against one another in which there will be only one winner/survivor. Yes, it sounds outlandish. But it's also very pulpish and very Japanese (I mean that in a good way). I like the movie so much, I was quite thrilled to snag up the original novel upon which the movie (and its sequels and the manga series) is based. This is an English translation, of course.

Mini review: Overly violent. Deeply disturbing. Yet a masterpiece of modern pulp fiction. By far and away the most entertaining novel I've read in some time. Definitely not for everyone, but writers of horror and other dark materials should read this and study it.

No. 37 - The Shack

by William Paul Young

Started: November 14
Finished: November 21

Notes: Christian fiction isn't normally my thing unless it's also historical fiction, but the blurb on the back of this book caught my attention. Without giving too much away, the story concerns a man who has suffered an awful tragedy to his family, then one day he receives a note from God. The note says God wants to talk with our protagonist. There's more to it than that, more elements that pulled me in, but I don't want to give away any major plot points. And let me add, I also am interested in reading this book because it was self-published (not something I'm considering) but still has made it onto the NY Times bestseller list.

Mini review: Not a bad story, but I wasn't blown away. The writing is decent, but it was fairly obvious this was a first novel. The biggest problem I had from a story-telling point of view is that I felt the plot was a bit weak, especially in the middle; the idea behind the plot is excellent, in my opinion, but it could have used some strengthening. Now, from a spiritual standpoint, there were a few other problems I had with this tale. First, and mostly, I felt the religion in this story suffered from being overly simplistic. I don't, however, necessarily blame this on the author, or upon his religious beliefs or the story; I freely admit that it might just be I who am not emotionally or spiritually capable of understanding at this point in my existence. That being said, I have experienced a few moments of "eureka" or "revelation" in my life about something that seemed quite simple but turned out to be otherwise (or sometimes not) from my perspective. There can be great insight gained from what sometimes seems the most simple of ideas. Still, I generally expect more in my religious-oriented reading. Secondly, I felt the version of God shown in this tale was a bit too liberal for my liking. No, I'm not a fundamentalist or a Bible-thumper or even a hell-and-brimstone kind of guy, but I don't think of God (or the Trinity, if you prefer) as being all touchy feely and kissy huggy all the time. Sometimes, maybe, but not all the time. Again, maybe I'm wrong and it's just my own inability to accept. All that being said, this was an okay read, and there were a handful of very touching scenes. This novel is not something I'd suggest for the casual fiction reader, but my Christian friends might find something here for them. Overall, though, if I'm in the mood to read about man questioning God, I'll turn to one of my favorite books in the Holy Bible ... the Book of Job; God's answers to Job might seem simplistic, but there's a whole lot going on in that tale if you dig deep enough.

No. 36 - Velocity

by Dean Koontz

Started: November 9
Finished: November 14

Notes: Something like twenty years ago, I had aspirations to be a horror novelist. To some extent, I suppose I still do, but I tend to think of myself as more of a dark fantasy writer nowadays. Anyway, back then I read as much horror and dark thriller fiction as I could, and that included pretty much everything Dean Koontz had written, probably 20 or so books at the time ... I'm talking the late 80s and early 90s. Eventually, I tired of Koontz. He was a good writer, but his characters started to seem too familiar to me and most of his plots started to sound the same. So, I gave him up, even though I'd been a pretty big fan of his and was well read in his material. Now, it's been at least 15 years since I've read anything by him, and he seems to be a bigger author now than he was then. So, I thought I'd give him another shot and I'd try out one of his more recent novels. Here goes.

Mini review: Not as good as some of the earlier works of Koontz's I've read, but overall not too shabby. The plot is interesting, though it stretches the believability factor sometimes, and after the first hundred or so pages the pace is nice and brisk. The one real problem I had with the story was that I never cared all that much for the protagonist; I didn't hate the guy, and sometimes I even rooted for him, but mostly I just sort of felt ... "If the guy dies, if the guy doesn't die, so what?" The ending, the last 50 or so pages, were quite nice, Koontz at his best. Hope I'm not giving anything too much away here, but what I liked best about the ending was the sort of no-fuss attitude the protagonist had when it finally came down to dealing with the antagonist; there had been some introspection (though not tons) throughout this novel by the protagonist, but when he had to do what he had to do ... well, he just did it and got on with things. I liked that. It was a nice change of pace from overly-thoughtful protags who have to ponder their every little emotion, especially after they've gone through a rough time.

No. 35 - Shane

by Jack Schaefer

Started: November 7
Finished: November 9

Notes: If the title of this book means nothing to you, then you're obviously not a great, in-depth student of films about the Old West (not that there's anything wrong with you not being such a fan of the movie genre). This 1949 novel became a pretty famous Western movie in 1953 starring Alan Ladd and Jack Palance. The film is probably best known as sort of the first "quiet stranger comes to town and turns out to be a former gunman and now he has to set things right even though he would rather not have to get violent" Western. Yes, I know that's a long description, but it's also a Western genre nearly in itself. There's probably a shorter title to this subgenre, but if so, it's not one of which I'm aware ("Shane" is not a Spaghetti Western, nor is it really a modernist or post-modernist Western; it fits in well with the Western movies of the 1950s while also precursoring the coming realistic, often violent Westerns of the 1960s and early-to-mid 1970s). Anyway, I haven't read a Western novel in a long while, ran across this one (which is for a movie I like -- can you tell?), and decided to give it a try.

Mini review: Was a little slow the first 50 pages, but picked up nice. Also had a good story without it being just another shoot-em-up. In fact, I think there are only 2 or 3 shots fired in the whole novel, and that's toward the end. Glad I read this one. Gave me even more appreciation for the movie, because I was glad to see the film's creators pretty much stuck with the book.

No. 34 - From a Buick 8

by Stephen King

Started: October 31
Finished: November 7

Notes: Barely in time for Halloween, I decided to turn to some horror. This is one of the few I have not read from the master.

Mini review: One of the best of King's I've read in some while. This is another novel where you won't get all the answers to the mystery, but if you've read King's Dark Tower series, you can probably guess at the truth behind the veil here as this seems to be yet another of his novels with vague links to the DT series. It was nice that this novel was the last first-draft of any novel King finished before his accident back in 1999, and ... well, I hate to say this because of how it sounds ... but I believe King's work has suffered some since then. But still, even his more modern works are good, they just don't seem quite as good as his earlier material. But maybe it's just me reading too much into.

No. 33 - Money Money Money

by Ed McBain

Started: October 24
Finished: October 31

Notes: I have not finished my last novel yet, nor had I planned to read another by Ed McBain so soon, but I've been on the road the last few days and I forgot to bring along my current reading material. So, I popped into a used bookstore and picked this up. This one should be a bit different because it's supposed to deal with terrorism, not a subject I'd normally associate with hard-boiled police procedurals.

Mini review: Definitely the most complex of McBain's 87th Precinct novels I've read so far. And though this is one of the more modern tales, it worked fine with characters who had been around for 50 years. The terrorism in the plot here is quite slick, really barely making it into the story, but playing an important part to the overall tale. Things start off looking like a relatively simple story about drug runners, but then counterfeiting becomes involved, multiple murders, hit men (and women) ... and it gets more complex from there. But it all winds up in the end with a fine story.

No. 32 - Flashing Swords! #4: Barbarians and Black Magicians

edited by Lin Carter

Started: October 21

Finished: October 30

Notes: Another classic collection of Sword and Sorcery stories I've been meaning to get to for some while, though I've read a couple of these stories elsewhere. Here there are stories by Jack Vance, Michael Moorcock, Katherine Kurtz, John Jakes and Poul Anderson.

Mini review: Some decent reading here, though a couple of tales that didn't do much for me. As could be expected, Moorcock's tale was the best, though a close second was John Jakes' story of Brak the barbarian.

No. 31 - Jamie the Red

by Gordon R. Dickson with Roland Green

Started: October 15
Finished: October 21

Notes: I've long been a fan of the Thieves' World series of Sword and Sorcery anthologies. In fact, it's my favorite series. This character, Jamie the Red, was one of the characters from that series. So it's only natural I'd get around to reading this book from 1984, back when the original Thieves' World series was still going strong.

Mini review: A fine read, bringing me back to the not-so-dark Sword and Sorcery stories common to the early and mid-1980s. In this tale, a Scottish prince is exiled from home and becomes involved in the wars of France and the intrigues of Italy.

No. 30 - Heat

by Ed McBain

Started: October 11
Finished: October 15

Notes: Yes, I'm retreating into another 87th Precinct novel from McBain because I'm feeling sick right now with either sinus problems or an early flu, and something as simple and straight forward as McBain is about all my head feels like tackling at the moment.

Mini review: Yet another fun read. This one was a bit different, with more of a personal story about one of the police detectives worked into the tale. But none of the action was lacking!

No. 29 - Neuromancer

by William Gibson

Started: October 3
Finished: October 11

Notes: This is a sci-fi classic originally published in the early 1980s. Though I was around back then, and reading, this one never made it into my reading pile until recently. So, it's off to another supposed classic. I'll let you know what I think.

Mini review: Okay, I didn't care much for it. This is far from the worst book I've ever read, but I was not overly delighted with anything here. The writing was a bit bland, mixed with lots of faux techno-jargon that didn't help. The plot was somewhat interesting once you figure out what's going on. And none of the characters were really worth caring about. Maybe if I had read this 15 to 25 years ago, I might have found it breathtaking in the way it foreshadowed the Internet before the Internet went public, but reading it now felt a little stale.

No. 28 - The Last Dance

by Ed McBain

Started: September 27

Finished: October 3

Notes: This is my third 87th Precinct novel. The first two were published in the 1950s, but this one came out in 2000, so I'm interested to see how McBain's style changed over the years. I'm a growing fan of this series of police procedurals.

Mini review: Another fast-paced read with lots of speedy dialogue and some decent action. It was a bit weird to read of characters I'm more familiar with in a hardboiled, 1950s environment who have been set in the modern day. And it was a bit weird with the hardboiled style for a story in the modern day. But it mostly worked, and was a fine read. I'll be getting more of McBain's works.

No. 27 - Zoe's Tale

by John Scalzi

Started: September 22
Finished: September 27

Notes: I've just finished my first novel by this author, was quite impressed, so I wanted to try another book by him. This one should be most interesting because, if I understand the blurbs correctly, this novel contains the same story as the last book I read by Scalzi, "The Last Colony," but told from the point of view of the character Zoe. I can easily see how Zoe could have her own story, because she plays an integral part and goes off to do her own thing for a while.

Mini review: An excellent book. I feared this one might be a tad boring, since mostly it's a retelling of a book I had read before, but it turned out to give a fresh spin on the story from a different angle. Scalzi has definitely earned his place among today's fiction writers, and I predict even bigger and better things for him in the future. I will be reading more from him.

No. 26 - The Last Colony

by John Scalzi


Started: September 19
Finished: September 22

Notes: This writer has been pretty popular these last few years, especially with his military science fiction. I've read enough of his bloggings to have some respect for him already, but thought I'd actually get into one of his novels. Here goes.

Mini review: This was a great, fun read. I fully understand why this author is making it big. Most of this particular tale was more political and full of intrigue than straight out combat, but there was never a dull moment. A lot of this tale is told through dialogue, which reminded me a bit of the Ed McBain school of writing. I'll definitely read this author again. In fact, I'll do so right now.

No. 25 - The Dying Earth

by Jack Vance

Started: September 14
Finished: September 19

Notes: Yet another fantasy book I've been meaning to get to for a while, specifically because the magic system in this one has gone down in gaming history as the source for the original Dungeons and Dragons games' magic system.

Mini review: Not bad. Sort of light science fantasy, reminding me a little of Lord Dunsany and Andre Norton's writings. Not hardcore, but there's enough action and mystery to keep things going. I'd read this author again.

No. 24 - Bran Mak Morn

by Robert E. Howard

Started: September 7
Finished: September 14

Notes: Okay, so I'm back to Sword and Sorcery stories again. This is a collection of short stories about the Pict charecter Bran Mak Morn written by the grandfather of S&S writing, who also happens to be the creator of Conan the Barbarian (and if all you know of Conan is the movies or TV show, then you don't know Conan).

Mini review: Man, I'd forgotten just how well ole Howard could write. Really, some of the short stories here really blew me away. One tale even included Bran Mak Morn, Cormac Mac Art and Kull (all three Howard S&S characters). The only thing that would have made that tale more interesting would have been if Conan or Soloman Kane had showed up! Always worth reading. Robert E. Howard is a god among writers.