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Burroughs, Edgar Rice. Warlord of Mars. The third in the John Carter series and a quick, fun and exciting read. It's sci-fi and shows its age, but it's just so darn quaint! |
eBook
200303 |
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Christie, Agatha. Secret Adversary. A Tommy and Tuppance mystery in the classic Christie style. Needlessly complicated and terrifcally fun for it. I particularly enjoyed the inclusion of events surrounding the sinking of the Lusitania. |
eBook
200303 |
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King, Stephen. Wizard and Glass. The fourth book in The Dark Tower series, and a total disappointment. The writing style, as always, is captivating and very easy to read, but there was absolutely nothing that this book contributed to the series or plot. The first chapter does answer what happened at the end of the third book that left us hanging, but the rest of it should have been replaced with some substance. |
paperback
200304 |
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Flint, Eric. 1632. A great idea for a sci-fi but the execution was horrible. Flint tried too hard to put too much life into his characters, tried to include too many historic references, tried to make 20th century Americans into the only righteous society, and just used way too many words. Not good at all. |
eBook
200304 |
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Wouk, Herman. The Caine Mutiny. What a tremendous novel. Just when I'd settled into knowing a character, circumstances would change and paint that person in a whole new light. Personality facets and flaws were constantly being discovered. The story was great, and just kept getting better. It could easily have been twice as long and never gotten dull. Highly recommended. |
paperback
200305 |
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Tolstoy, Leo. Master and Man. It was much shorter than I expected. It was far from up-beat, but the imagery and feelings of resignation and acceptance were really powerful. I look forward to reading more Tolstoy in the future. |
eBook
200305 |
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Ruff, Matt. Fool on the Hill. It has an interesting back and forth approach where one chapter is based in reality and the next is obviously fantasy, and as the book progresses, the two finally meet then mesh. I liked that. I also liked that I laughed out loud many times, and I was often reminded of the style of Douglas Adams. Unfortunately, Ruff isn't consistent and some parts of the book are laboured. |
paperback
200305 |
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Stephenson, Neal. Snow Crash. A tongue-in-cheek comparison of religion and the online world, but it's way better than that desciption would have you believe. Our hero (Hiro Protagonist) is a Nipponese hacker with a penchant for swords whose skills are equal inside the Metaverse and out. It's non-stop, action-packed, filled with humour, and a good read. Recommended |
eBook
200307 |
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Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The 5th book in the series and a different approach in the writing style. There's far more character development than plot movement, and the story is somewhat darker... pessimistic, kinda bitchy. It's a more difficult read than the others because the actual writing style itself has changed and the words don't flow together quite so easily. Good ending if you can get thru 750+ pages. |
hardcover
200307 |
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MacLennan, Hugh. Each Man's Son. Each characters is introduced fluidly. Each person just seems to flow from the circumstances of the last and the result is a very easy to read, seemingly naturally progressing tale of the lives and circumstances of smalltown Cape Breton at the turn of the century. Recommended. |
paperback
200307 |
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Stephenson, Neal. The Big U. It was not one of his best, but it was still good. I found there to be some off-topic just-because material, some ramblings, some unrelated but fun stuff, and some seriously wacky stuff. It's complex and entertaining, interesting and exciting, but it is far from his best. I can't recommend it because it wanders a bit much and is needlessly complicated in places. Still good, but stick to his later efforts. |
eBook
200307 |
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Doctorow, Cory. Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom . It was a good read and I enjoyed it a lot. I particularly liked the shout out to Neal Stephenson and Snow Crash. There is plenty of Can-con but that's not at all surprising being as Doctorow is a Torontonian. The story was good, the writing fluid, the idea was entertaining, and I can honestly recommend it. Check it out for a good, quick sci-fi read with plenty of humour. |
eBook
200308 |
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Stephenson, Neal. "Mother Earth Mother Board." Wired For a 56 page article on laying cable, it wasn't dull. The self-described Hacker Tourist travels to distant and exotic locations following the landing points of many submarine cables, telling a few personal stories, but most often just telling it like it is: there's info to xmit and $ to be made and this is how it's done. |
eBook
200308 |
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Gibson, William. "New Rose Hotel." It's dark and melodic and almost poetic. The feeling of sadness is almost palpable. I should have read it on a silent, dark, rainy afternoon. |
eBook
200308 |
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Gibson, William. Burning Chrome. A collection of short stories, some co-authored, that share a sense of dark resignation. They're all very good, some better than others, but each leaves me with a sense of melancholy. It's worth a second read and a place on the shelf. |
eBook
200308 |
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NN. "The Story of Captain Midnight." A simple, straightforward article on how one man had the opportunity to greet paying satellite TV viewers with a brief message, and how he was convicted for it. |
eBook
200309 |
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Gaiman, Neil. "Snow, Glass, Apples." A short story from the author of "The Sandman" (also an audiobook from Seeing Ear Theatre starring Bebe Neuwirth) which borrows liberally from other tales, but is distinctly Gaiman. Definitely worth a read. |
eBook
200309 |
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Adrian, Robert. "Infobahn Blues." Digital Delirium. An essay covering the inhumanity of the 'Net and the need to make it seem non-chaotic and under control. |
eBook
200309 |
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Cadigan, Pat. "Little Latin Larry." Another short by "The Queen of Cyberpunk". It starts out rather mystefying but quickly gathers speed and then Cadigan has you eating out of her palm. This is one talented author. |
eBook
200309 |
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Gibson, William. "Fragments of a Hologram Rose." It's a great idea but it seems incomplete. There's the requisite personal loss, the dismal imagery, and really fantastic writing style, but this just isn't one of Gibson's top ten. |
eBook
200309 |
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Gibson, William. "Disneyland with Death Penalty." Wired Some personal non-fiction about a visit to Singapore and how that techno-jewel fits into our cyber world. |
eBook
200309 |
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Dick, Philip K. A Scanner Darkly. The writing was sometimes jagged and disjointed and I have no idea if it was intentional because of the storyline. I guess that makes it brilliant then. Whatever. I found there to be insufficient substance and at one point I was wishing it to be done. Considering how lengthy and drawn out the first fourteen chapters were, the last one was remarkably quick, action-packed and interesting. Overall, I can't recommend it. |
eBook
200309 |
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Gaiman, Neil. Neverwhere Gaiman seems to have a thing about angels. But whatever it is, it works well. I liked the whole idea of two separate worlds, a London Above and a London Below, but I felt that, on the whole, the story was a bit lighter and a bit more airy than I'm used to with Gaiman. It's a good story, a quick read, and not surprising that it's available on DVD from the BBC. |
eBook
200310 |
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Maddox, Tom. Halo Waaaay to wordy. Maddox has a great idea here but I think it should have been a short story. The descriptive phrases seem to get caught up in themselves and produce glowing, flowery paragraphs of description that lead to nowhere. Tom: find an editor and keep writing. |
eBook
200310 |
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Fielding, Helen. Bridget Jones's Diary Bloody brilliant. The book makes the movie look dull and I laughed out loud so often it was embarassing. It's just wacky enough to be an autobiography. |
paperback
200311 |
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Gibson, William. Virtual Light It's actually quite good at taking the close-to-now, adding a small change and making a world that is entirely different yet eerily the same. It's an easy read with not too many details and an OK story. |
eBook
200311 |
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Dick, Philip K. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Bladerunner is nothing like this book. OK, so some of the characters and the beginning development are the same, but the movie is entirely different. I liked the writing style, the desolation and the feeling of abandon. It's an encompassing depression. Worth the read. |
eBook
200312 |
