My 2012 Reading List

[Yogalete]

Just as the title says, I'll list the books I read this year in this thread. Maybe a short review or synopsis. Maybe I'll come up with a rating system. I'm a total e-book convert, and have a great many (embarassed to give the actual number) books in my calibre app/database. Plenty to read. In the past, I was a voracious reader, but these days, I'm limited to an hour or so a day. Generally a book a week or so.

I never read anything that involves space monsters, space ships, swords, sandals, or dragons. I generally like bios and crime fiction, so don't expect anything too high brow or educational. Reading is entertainment and escape for me.

Some recent reads have been - "11/22/63" by Stephen King - Surprisingly good. King has been unreadable to me for years, but this was good. The Oswald thing is always fascinating. The Steve Jobs bio, "If I did It", by OJ Simpson (spoiler, he did it), "The Deputy" by Victor Gischler, "The Cold Kiss" by John Rector, and "The Drop" by Michael Connelly". Currently reading "Sweetness", the Walter Payton bio by Jeff Pearlman. Pearlman took a lot of heat for speaking poorly of Walter, but 1/2 way through, nothing too controversial has caught my eye. In fact, he seems like a perfectly boring football player. An athletic marvel, but meh. We'll see how life after the Superbowl Shuffle goes for him.

[newguy]

I thought 11-22-63 started strong, but it fell apart. I really did not need to read about a high school production of Grapes of Wrath.

King desperately needs a strong editor.

[Yogalete]

Ah, but a fine production of Grapes of Wrath it was. I hear you on the ending. I generally don't like horror novels, but what I like about SK when he is good are the characters. When he gets to the "scary" stuff, it can be a little tedious. I'm sure he has a fine editor, but how much say would the editor have if SK disagrees with an edit?

[KingSchmaltzBagelHour]

11-22-63 blew IMO. I'm a big SK fan, his early shit is definitely his best, but he's had a bunch of great new stuff, too...Full Dark No Stars, Under the Dome, and Blockade Billy were all awesome. Cell, 11-22-63, not so much.
Character development and realistic dialogue are his strong suits for sure.

[Yogalete]

Agree on "Cell". It was pitched as vintage SK, so I gave it a try. Awful. It's probably just me, but there are few things more boring than zombies. Could not finish it. I've seen good reviews of "Under the Dome", so I'll probably read it at some point. Liked "FDNS". The novella seems to be his sweet spot.

[The Venerable Bogatir X]

King hasn't been good since he gave up booze and blow.

Well, "On Writing" was actually pretty good.

[Yogalete]

Finished "Sweetness". I'm not quite getting why there was such a pushback against this book when it was published. It seemed pretty balanced in its description of Payton's life. Unless you are a fan of hagiographies, or are Connie Payton (his wife in name only, keeper of the Walter Payton legend), you had to feel that Pearlman was fair to Walter, someone he looked up to. The controversial bits included named sources for the most part.

I'm not sure what all the complaints are about. Yes, the NFL's Payton award is supposed to be indicative of a great humanitarian. And I think the book depicts him as a kind, generous man. But he could also be selfish, moody, and petty. He was the Father of the Year, but had an illegitimate kid he never publicly acknowledged. He fucked around like crazy, keeping a little room at one of his businesses (a bar) just for that purpose, and had a serious mistress for ~15 years. He abused painkillers and was suicidal at one point, but was also extremely giving of his time, money, and emotions. In short, human.

I think Pearlman still takes a little heat for his piece on John Rocker in SI a few years ago (note to Rocker, if you are willing to go on the record as an ignorant racist redneck, don't be shocked when that is what people view you as), but I didn't sense that he was going for a sensational, tawdry slant here. Seemed pretty much a straightforward bio, warts and all, the good and the bad.

[DARTH]

11-22-63 blew IMO. I'm a big SK fan, his early shit is definitely his best, but he's had a bunch of great new stuff, too...Full Dark No Stars, Under the Dome, and Blockade Billy were all awesome. Cell, 11-22-63, not so much.
Character development and realistic dialogue are his strong suits for sure.

I read alot of his stuff in H.S.
Night Shift
Salem's Lot (Dude's the Rob Lowe TV addaptation was SICK!)
The Stand
Firestarter
The Shinning
Christine
Carrie
Pet Semitary
The Dead Zone
Misery

After that I tried IT and put it down half way through. I got to the point where he was like the SNL skit about him, making stupid horror stories from toasters and then Crom gave me The Gunslinger for X-Mass after years of telling me to read the Dark Tower books. I read that bitch in 1 night and was through the whole series in 2 months.
He can write all the crap he wants but The Dark Tower makes him a fucking God forever.

[DARTH]

11-22-63 blew IMO. I'm a big SK fan, his early shit is definitely his best, but he's had a bunch of great new stuff, too...Full Dark No Stars, Under the Dome, and Blockade Billy were all awesome. Cell, 11-22-63, not so much.
Character development and realistic dialogue are his strong suits for sure.

I read alot of his stuff in H.S.
Night Shift
Salem's Lot (Dude's the Rob Lowe TV addaptation was SICK!)
The Stand
Firestarter
The Shinning
Christine
Carrie
Pet Semitary
The Dead Zone
Misery

After that I tried IT and put it down half way through. I got to the point where he was like the SNL skit about him, making stupid horror stories from toasters and then Crom gave me The Gunslinger for X-Mass after years of telling me to read the Dark Tower books. I read that bitch in 1 night and was through the whole series in 2 months.
He can write all the crap he wants but The Dark Tower makes him a fucking God forever.

[DARTH]

shit

[DARTH]

fucking laptop

[Schlegel]

For crime fiction I still like Max Collins' Nate Heller series. Heller starts out a young cop in Chicago who gets pulled in on the Lindberg kidnapping, the various novels follow his career as a PI, and usually put him in fictionalized versions of famous cases, generally substituted for where there was a real PI. Lots of Chicago color and mobsters, of course. Very deadpan, hardboiled style.

[newguy]

fucking laptop

Laptops don't double post.

People double post.

I loved It. Favorite book of all time, but I have this thing for anything that takes what happened to us as children and brings it back to adult life, as well as hidden histories of small towns, so it was like SK wrote that book for me.

Dark Tower the original novel (not the expanded edition) was great too,but he lost me in the second book.

[Turdacious]

For crime fiction I still like Max Collins' Nate Heller series. Heller starts out a young cop in Chicago who gets pulled in on the Lindberg kidnapping, the various novels follow his career as a PI, and usually put him in fictionalized versions of famous cases, generally substituted for where there was a real PI. Lots of Chicago color and mobsters, of course. Very deadpan, hardboiled style.

I'll have to put him on my list. I've been enjoying the Zen novels by Michael Dibden, and plan on reading some Charlie Stella and more Ross MacDonald this year.

[Yogalete]

For crime fiction I still like Max Collins' Nate Heller series. Heller starts out a young cop in Chicago who gets pulled in on the Lindberg kidnapping, the various novels follow his career as a PI, and usually put him in fictionalized versions of famous cases, generally substituted for where there was a real PI. Lots of Chicago color and mobsters, of course. Very deadpan, hardboiled style.

Max Collins in on my TBR list.

[Yogalete]

11-22-63 blew IMO. I'm a big SK fan, his early shit is definitely his best, but he's had a bunch of great new stuff, too...Full Dark No Stars, Under the Dome, and Blockade Billy were all awesome. Cell, 11-22-63, not so much.
Character development and realistic dialogue are his strong suits for sure.

I read alot of his stuff in H.S.
Night Shift
Salem's Lot (Dude's the Rob Lowe TV addaptation was SICK!)
The Stand
Firestarter
The Shinning
Christine
Carrie
Pet Semitary
The Dead Zone
Misery

After that I tried IT and put it down half way through. I got to the point where he was like the SNL skit about him, making stupid horror stories from toasters and then Crom gave me The Gunslinger for X-Mass after years of telling me to read the Dark Tower books. I read that bitch in 1 night and was through the whole series in 2 months.
He can write all the crap he wants but The Dark Tower makes him a fucking God forever.

DT is dangerously close to swords, sandals, and dragons, so I always avoided it. It does seem to be frequently mentioned as some of his best though. Maybe one day I'll give it a try. I avoided "Eyes of the Dragon" forever (duh, dragon right in the title), but I read it and actually liked it a lot. A good old fashioned story that pulls you right along.

[Yogalete]

"Villain" by Shuichi Yoshida - This is obstensbily "crime novel". A girl is strangled and left at a remote mountain location in Kyushu. So there is a crime at the heart of the book, but it is really about alienation, abandonment, and loneliness in modern day Japan. The story deals with the victim, the "villain", and the reasons behind the crime and its effects on their families. Most definitely character driven rather than plot driven. Although plot wise, the ending was not what I expected.

All in all pretty bleak, and maybe not everyone's cup of tea, but I enjoyed it. It showed up on a blog as a top "newcomer" last year, so I gave it a try. Since I read "Out" by Natsuo Kirino a few years back I've sought out modern Japanese authors in this genre. That was a great book. Very dark, but I like that. About some lower middle class, middle aged ladies, who work together at a bento factory. One of them kills her abusive husband, cuts up the body and hides the pieces in many locations. Can she (and the co-workers who know about) get away with it?

When I was stationed in Japan I took part in Joint Army-USAF exercises at a base near Kumamoto a couple of times, so I am vaguely familiar with the area "Villain" is set in. Good fun there.

[Yogalete]

#3 "Drive" James Sallis - I've meant to read something by him for a while. I realized the movie "Drive", with Ryan Gosling, was based on this book, so I picked it. Honestly I was confusing the movie with one of those silly Tokyo Drift or whatever movies. I hear it is actually pretty good.

This was a quick caper story. Revenge, double crosses, that kind of stuff. Stylistically like a noir flick from the 50's amped up with violence. The hero is never named other than Driver. A wheelman. "I drive. That's all".

Not bad. I have quite a few Sallis books, so I'll get to more of them down the road.

[Yogalete]

#4 "E-Mails from an Asshole" - John Lindsay -The author replies to internet ads. Hilarity ensues. One example.


Derek’s original ad:
selling 1997 toyota camry. 146k miles. engine and transmission in good
shape. was in minor fender bender, damage shown in pictures

From Me to Derek:
Hello,
Let me just introduce myself. My name is Mike, and two weeks ago my dog
was hit and killed by a car in Manayunk. The driver did not stop. He was hit by
a white ‘97 Toyota Camry. With the side of the bumper bashed in like in your
pictures. I thought I would never find the killer, but then I saw the murderer’s car
for sale in Manayunk! YOURS. What, are you trying to get rid of the evidence?
You killed my dog of 8 years and didn’t even stop. I had to tell my kids that they
would never see him again. Now they just look dead inside, like their soul was
taken from them. I can’t blame them.
We can’t bring Skip back to life, but I want you to come here and apologize to
my kids. And buy them a new dog. It is the least you could do.
Email me back and we’ll set up a time.
—Mike

From Derek to Me:
what? i didnt hit your fucking dog. no way im buying you a new dog

From Me to Derek:
There’s no denying it. I’ve got you dead to rights. The car that hit my dog is
unmistakably yours. I even remember seeing your Outer Banks bumper sticker
as I watched the car drive away, leaving Skip in a mangled mess in the middle of
the street.
Maybe you were drunk and didn’t remember? That doesn’t make you any less
guilty.

From Derek to Me:
are you fucking serious i didnt hit your dog!!! i even called my girlfriend
and she had no idea what i was talking about. you are mistaken

From Me to Derek:
No, I am not. Does your girlfriend have long hair? I didn’t get a good look at the
killer’s face, but I saw long hair from behind as they sped away. I just assumed it
was a man because of their huge shoulders.

From Derek to Me:
yes she has long hair but she didnt hit your dog. where did this happen?

From Me to Derek:
You know where it happened. Right here in Manayunk. I think your girlfriend is
lying to you. I would like to meet both of you and have a good chat with you two
so I can figure out which one of you is lying.

From Derek to Me:
no this is ridiculous neither of us hit your dog. im sorry it happened but this is not
my fault

From Me to Derek:
Why would you be sorry if you didn’t do it? Seems like you feel guilty about
murdering my dog. Just own up to it. Do the right thing. For my kids.

I bet Derek and his girlfriend had a long talk about this. If he had reason to
believe that she hit the dog, he probably still suspects her of it. I like how
he just brushed off the comment about his girlfriend having huge shoulders.
I guess I hit the nail on the head.

[Gaara Gryphon]

Documents in the Case- Dorothy Sayers
Sherlock Holmes: The Breath of God-Guy Adams
Beat the Reaper-Josh Bazell

[DARTH]

For crime fiction I still like Max Collins' Nate Heller series. Heller starts out a young cop in Chicago who gets pulled in on the Lindberg kidnapping, the various novels follow his career as a PI, and usually put him in fictionalized versions of famous cases, generally substituted for where there was a real PI. Lots of Chicago color and mobsters, of course. Very deadpan, hardboiled style.

I'll have to put him on my list. I've been enjoying the Zen novels by Michael Dibden, and plan on reading some Charlie Stella and more Ross MacDonald this year.

Have you seen the Masterpeice Theater (Brit) TV Adaptation of Zen? Fucking Brilliant.

God Damn Brits do some of the best TV these days, wich is surprissing because other than Doctor Who and a few notable exceptions , their drama's used to suck ass. Zen, Inspector Lewis, Life on Mars, Doc Martin, William and Mary, Downton Abby ect. Some good TV.

[DARTH]

11-22-63 blew IMO. I'm a big SK fan, his early shit is definitely his best, but he's had a bunch of great new stuff, too...Full Dark No Stars, Under the Dome, and Blockade Billy were all awesome. Cell, 11-22-63, not so much.
Character development and realistic dialogue are his strong suits for sure.

I read alot of his stuff in H.S.
Night Shift
Salem's Lot (Dude's the Rob Lowe TV addaptation was SICK!)
The Stand
Firestarter
The Shinning
Christine
Carrie
Pet Semitary
The Dead Zone
Misery

After that I tried IT and put it down half way through. I got to the point where he was like the SNL skit about him, making stupid horror stories from toasters and then Crom gave me The Gunslinger for X-Mass after years of telling me to read the Dark Tower books. I read that bitch in 1 night and was through the whole series in 2 months.
He can write all the crap he wants but The Dark Tower makes him a fucking God forever.

I danced around it for years untill Crom's X-Mass gift. (A tactic we have developed to get each other into each other's fave books. - BTW CROM I did all the DT and Bounty so you have to read Sharpe's and then I'll sit down to the Count of Monte Cristo. And then you need to get to know Uhtred of the Saxon books. Conwell calls!)

Just get Gunslinger and it's like Heroin, 1 hit and your hooked.
DT is dangerously close to swords, sandals, and dragons, so I always avoided it. It does seem to be frequently mentioned as some of his best though. Maybe one day I'll give it a try. I avoided "Eyes of the Dragon" forever (duh, dragon right in the title), but I read it and actually liked it a lot. A good old fashioned story that pulls you right along.

[Yogalete]

~double post~

[Yogalete]

Finishing Up January

• The Man Who Led Zeppelin Chris Welch Bio 3 -
  The Primal Blueprint Mark Sisson Health 3 Paleo
  Faking Life Jason Pinter Crime 4 -
  High Strung: Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, and the Last Days of Tennis's Golden Age Steve Tignor Sports 4

[Turdacious]

For crime fiction I still like Max Collins' Nate Heller series. Heller starts out a young cop in Chicago who gets pulled in on the Lindberg kidnapping, the various novels follow his career as a PI, and usually put him in fictionalized versions of famous cases, generally substituted for where there was a real PI. Lots of Chicago color and mobsters, of course. Very deadpan, hardboiled style.

I'll have to put him on my list. I've been enjoying the Zen novels by Michael Dibden, and plan on reading some Charlie Stella and more Ross MacDonald this year.

Have you seen the Masterpeice Theater (Brit) TV Adaptation of Zen? Fucking Brilliant.

Not yet, wanted to read the books first. Got them queued up on The Box though.