Pages

Mar 28, 2009

a promise

having read back over a couple of posts - I keep finding 'fast-paced' in my reviews. Although it is true that the books I've been reading have been exactly that I'm going to try and use some different terminology next time 'fp' gets old after a while.

Beat the Reaper - Review

Meet Dr Peter Brown, he’s about to go on the night shift having dealt with an attempted mugging en route. But Peter isn’t his real name. Before he became a doctor Peter was a heavy hitter for the mob and his old life is about to collide with his new life head on.

Grey’s Anatomy this is not and its way better for it. Bazell’s take on the strata of the medical profession left me hoping that I never have to go into hospital and thanking god I have health insurance. Fast, fierce, occasionally gross but great.

Mar 24, 2009

Next up

That would be 'Beat the Reaper' NYT gave this a great review (from the looks of the first couple of pages for once I agree with them) and wouldn't you know it the arc that has been languishing on the pile next to the timecards for months has gone. Also - Ignite the Genius Within - billed as 'The Artists Way for the Matrix Generation' so by next week I should be able to understand string theory and complete Einstein's unified field theory - yeah right!

Good Thief's Guide to Paris - Review

After a week of cold, snow and bad news this just made my weekend and to say I laughed my socks off at one point in the book would be an understatement. You'll just have to read the book to find out what I mean because I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise.

Anyway here's the review

The second in the series finds Charlie Howard full time writer and part-time thief in Paris. In his writing life he’s working on a Faulks bank heist set in Cuba, giving a reading at Paris Lights and trying to explain to his agent Victoria why he looks nothing like his author photo. In his other life he’s up to his neck in trouble.

First, there’s the job that smells just a little off but Charlie does it anyway and then there’s the decomposing dead body in his Paris apartment. Add in a fixer who has some hold over the local gendarmerie, double and triple crosses and the most unlikely gang of thieves this side of The King’s English and you’ve got the ingredients for a fast, fun, chase through the streets of Paris where Charlie may just pull of the biggest heist of his career so far.

Mar 20, 2009

time to bite the bullet

A number of thing happened yesterday that made me re-think well a lot of things - I'm being cryptic for a reason. But the point of this rambling is the following. Time to stop being an unpublished writer and throw my hat into the ring. Giving myself a month of polishing and then I'm going to submit my manuscript. Wish me luck.

On a lighter note the copy of Good Thief's Guide to Paris arrived at the store yesterday so that's me set for the weekend:-)

Mar 19, 2009

Research teaches you the weirdest things (part 2)

Research is important - in this case research on airbags. I won't go into why I'm doing this but apart from all the how it works stuff I learned a very important fact. I've been sitting too close to the airbag - I should be 10-12 inches away! That thing shoots out of the steering wheel at the equivalent of 200 mph.

Risk comments

Didn't write anything yesterday but being doped up after a trip to the dentist I was able to sit down and just read.

Enjoyed Risk of Darkness - the book is out now and has been reviewed many times. A couple of comments, I liked the fact that Simon got a taste of his own medicine although his character seemed to regress mid-book (Diana!) and by the end he was back to about the same point. A couple of loose ends were wrapped up a little too quickly. I didn't like the 'gay' angle - the character is complex enough without adding that into the mix. The resolution of the child abduction story from the previous book was an interesting case study in how impossible it is for police officers to stay detached and the psychological effects that result.

Mar 12, 2009

Risk of Darkness

This book is out right now but before you go diving into it I would recommend reading The Pure in Heart. Why? Because Risk of Darkness is in many ways a continuation. The child abduction case that haunted Serrailler and his colleagues in the last book isn't going away and I'm only a few chapters in.

Mar 11, 2009

Finished the Larsson

and its good! Without giving away any of the book I would love to know if Lisbeth actually existed or is she just a figment of Larsson's imagination. He handles all of the threads easily, weaving a completely different story from the one he leads you to believe you are going to get. Although I did work out a major reveal a little earlier than I should have but that's my fault for trying to figure things out rather than letting the writer show me.

Mar 8, 2009

Mental Doodles

Off the grid for the last couple of days because of the Larsson (and several extra shifts). As usual I'll post the review when it comes out in June but I wonder if the guy knew he was dying because there are elements of 'something' haunting one of the characters and it would seem a bit odd if you didn't know what happened to the author. Off to write now at Divas. I was so pleased with myself on Thursday because of a plot device I worked out - which really exists - but then I realised that means a major rewrite. Plus it's only taken me three years to realize that working in the bookstore means that I have the perfect way to get all the books that I had to leave behind when we moved. But not the Judas Pair! Damn things out of print.

Mar 6, 2009

Finally!

Yay its raining arcs - well two of them at least. The Girl Who Played With Fire - the second Larsson book which I am really looking forward to reading. The Strain - not a request but I'll give it the 50 page treatment and we never got an arc of the Hill so I had to buy it so at least I can savour that one.

Mar 5, 2009

Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell

This is fascinating. Gladwell takes our notions of what it takes to be successful and digs deeper. What he finds is that it matters when you were born - even the month can make a difference. He strips away the 'rags to riches' and 'overnight success' stories and replaces them with a crucible theory. 10,000 hours of experience at your chosen subject whether you're a computer nerd like Bill Gates or Steve Jobs or a concert pianist. Gladwell is highly critical of the way our education systems function and how IQ is used as the only tool for measuring a student's potential. Of course being brilliant helps but it doesn't mean that doors will automatically open for you. Each of these stories has a background of hard graft, skill and sheer luck.

Mar 1, 2009

Fault Line – Barry Eisler

Alex Treven, hotshot patent lawyer at a prestigious Silicon Valley law firm suddenly finds his world falling apart. Could it have anything to do with the patent he’s working on for Obsidian? Desperate, Alex turns to his estranged brother Ben a soldier who ‘kills for America’.

Ben and Alex haven’t spoken in years but Alex is family so Ben grudgingly offers his help. In between keeping Alex and his associate Sarah from getting themselves killed. Ben has to work through the issues that blew his family apart in the first place. His loyalty to his country is about to be severely tested and he’s finding himself increasingly attracted to Sarah whom Alex has had his eye on for some time.

Eisler gives us an America that talks loudly and carries a big stick. This is a fast paced tech heavy thriller liberally dosed with issues of morality and family loyalty.

The Believers – Zoe Heller

Heller introduces us to the Litvinoff family at a crisis point. Joel, the head of the family suffers a stroke at the start of an important trial in a New York courtroom. His wife Audrey calls her son and two daughters to his bedside. In between battling with the Doctors over her husband’s medical care and wrestling with her conscience over keeping him alive Audrey learns that Joel had a mistress – she was tolerant of his many affairs – but this mistress had a son which Joel has secretly been supporting and the family has its own troubles.

Lenny the recovering drug addict may have fallen off the wagon again. Barren Karla, dieting social worker whose husband Mike is so desperate to foist an adoption on her that’s he pushing her towards another man. And finally Rosa, whose radical atheist upbringing means that her work with disadvantaged African American kids should be ideal. But instead she feels a pull towards her Jewish roots and beings to explore her denied faith.

A complex study of nature over nurture in post 9/11 New York.

The Alexander Cipher by Will Adams

Present day Alexandria where corruption is a part of life and the Supreme Council for Antiquities has the authority to start or close down excavations at will. Discovering an ancient burial ground on a hotel construction site triggers a series of events that could uncover the final resting place of one of the greatest warriors in history, Alexander the Great. In the hunt are the head of the SCA, the rich and powerful Dragoumis family and a group of archaeologists linked by more than just their profession.

Dragoumis and his son seek the body of the real Alexander a symbol that they can use to incite the Macedonian people to rise up and take back their homeland from the Greeks and they don’t care who they have to go through to get it.

A fast paced chase across Egypt with a good dose of the history of Alexander and some complicated interpersonal relationships to keep the story moving.

Outliers

I've been wanting to read this for a while but its one of those 'tidal' books. It comes in and goes out the door pretty quick so I bit the bullet on Friday and bought the last copy we had in the store. At least that will trigger us to order some more. Spent the morning in the dome at Divas. The members of the Rose and Cactus society are still pretty stiff after yesterdays cross country skiing marathon but we managed to get quite a bit of writing done in spite of the book talk going on in the corner. Nothing juicy this week though! As it's now March I'm going to post several reviews for books coming out this month. Enjoy