I haven't posted about a book in quite some time. A couple of reasons: I haven't been reading much lately, and I haven't read anything that really captured my attention. I'm glad to say that The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber has broken that stretch. This book passed several of my criteria for a good thriller:

• Characters were well fleshed out
• Only a couple of times did I read something and think "Ah, this will be important later". Given the complexity of the plot, that's pretty good.
• I also didn't guess much of the conclusion--just a couple of pretty obvious points. I was looking forward to seeing how the various plots and characters would come together
• Finally, most of the plot lines came together very well. The only part that I thought was handled poorly was the part of the brother Paul--though he was an interesting character nonetheless.

All in all, a very enjoyable read.

A Monstrous Regiment of Women is the second in Laurie R. King's series of novels about an elderly Sherlock Holmes and his young lover and apprentice Mary Russell. As with the first novel in the series, I did not enjoy this one as much as Katie, but it was a good read nonetheless.

I just completed The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King. This is the first in the series of novels about an elderly Sherlock Holmes and his young female apprentice.

I browsed across this book in the Pflugerville public library quite some time ago, and when I saw that it was about Sherlock Holmes, I checked it out for Katie who is a big Sherlock Holmes fan. Katie has since read all of Ms. King's novels and takes part in an email list for fans of the novels.

It's difficult to re-use an existing character--especially one so well known as Sherlock Holmes--but Katie thinks that Ms. King has captured the essence of Holmes quite well, even though she sets her novel thirty years after the original stories and gives him a female partner. I didn't enjoy the novel as much as Katie--as the sexual tension and budding romance between Holmes and his companion didn't do as much for me as it did for Katie, but I enjoyed the novel all the same.

I just completed the Librivox public domain audiobook of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a good tale, plus it contains large doses of political science and social and political commentary.

I just completed the public domain audiobook of The Secret Garden. The plot was blindingly obvious, but the book was still a fun read.

I just finished listening to the public domain Librivox recording of Jules Verne's A Journey to the Interior of the Earth. By modern sci-fi standards, this was a terrible novel, but considering that it was written in 1864, it was quite remarkable.

I just completed the Librivox audio edition of Jack London's Call of the Wild. I loved it; it's just over the top.

On a side note, this was the first Librivox audiobook that I've tried. I certainly like the principle of making free audiobooks of works that are in the public domain, but there were some problems with this recording. Each chapter was read by a different person. This wasn't a problem, but the quality and volume of the recordings varied widely.

I don't usually read science fiction, but I've been reading writer John Scalzi's blog for several months, so I decided to give his fiction a try. Old Man's War was a nice, imaginative and compelling read. Nothing earth-shattering about it in any way, but I enjoyed it.

I just completed the unabridged audio edition of Plainsong by Kent Haruf. I have to say, this was one of the very best audio books I've listened to. I particularly liked the portrayal of the main characters. Two of the characters, for instance, hardly speak or express any emotion, yet the author makes them deep and very believable.

The novel recounts a few months in the lives of some residents of a small farming town on the high plains in Colorado. I recognized in the characters aspects of my Kansas relatives and people I know from my youth in rural Texas. Haruf does an excellent job of portraying these characters.

Just wanted to point out that author Sarah Bird (or at least someone who claimed to be her) left a comment on my review of The Yokota Officers Club. Ms. Bird was in town this past weekend for the Texas Book Festival. I wish I had met her.

I just read The Geographer's Library by Jon Fasman. It was an enjoyable read. But one thing puzzles me. The book was full of colorful characters, except one: the protagonist. He was a young man with a bland personality who had not seen much of the world and who was not familiar with many of the cultural and historical references that are so important to the plot. I think the author did this so that the other characters would have an opportunity to explain the cultural references for the readers' sake. But it makes for an odd protagonist who is so so passive and unmemorable compared to the other characters.

I just completed the unabridged audio edition of The Yokota Officers Club by Sarah Bird. This novel is the coming-of-age story of a young woman who grew up as the daughter of an Air Force pilot after the second World War. I highly recommend the novel. The characters have depth, the story has unexpected convergences. All in all, it's an exceptionally well written novel.

I just completed the unabridged audio edition of Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier. I avoided checking out this audio book for quite some time, assuming that it was a chick book, not particulary my thing: more about feelings and/or relationships than actions. Well, now that I've read it, I can firmly say that it is indeed a chick book, but it's also the best book I've read in some time. The characters and their relationships are subtle, complex and quite compelling. I highly recommend this book.

I just completed the audio edition of Dance Hall of the Dead by Tony Hillerman. The more of Hillerman's books I read (well, listen to), the more I come to appreciate the quality of his writing. In addition, this novel passed my mystery novel test: I had no idea about the solution to the mystery before the protagonist, Jim Leaphorn, figured it out.

I finally finished reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince this week. I lost interest in the middle, but it picked back up again toward the end. Well written as usual, but I found it a little contrived in places. It's really hard to say whether J. K. Rowling's writing has changed or whether my interest in the series waned. Enjoyable nonetheless.

I just completed the unabridged audio edition of Waiting by Frank M. Robinson. This thriller explores an interesting premise, but the execution is lacking. The motivations and thought processes of the characters are particularly inconsistent: the protagonist completely misses some obvious connections, yet makes other connections long before they are clear. But, as a thriller, I guess it fulfilled its most basic function: I was eager to get to the end to see how everthing was resolved, even though I was not too thrilled about getting through to the end.

Oh, and an additional minor annoyance: the reader of the audio book frequently emphasized what I thought was the wrong word in the sentence.

I just completed the audio edition of The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. It's an ambitious and lyrical exploration of family, history and empire in Africa. It's an amazing book, though I barely made it all the way through.

I just completed the abridged audio edition of That Old Ace in the Hole by Annie Proulx. It was just okay, nothing special.

The thing that bothered the about the book was the feeling that Ms. Proulx either had little direct experience with the type of people about whom she was writing (Texas panhandle farmers and ranchers), or that she held those people in subtle contempt. It felt like at some level, she was making fun of them or portraying them as caricatures.

I just completed the unabridged audio edition of The Season of Lillian Dawes by Katherine Mosby, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The language used in the novel is really over the top sophisticated, but since it's written in the voice of a young privileged American man, the language fits him and his world perfectly.

I also realized that this novel shares many themes with another book I read and enjoyed recently: The Absence of Nectar. Both books have a main character who has obscured his or her identity and history, and both books are a kind of coming-of-age story, though the details differ radically between the two books.

I just finished the unabridged audio edition of Skinwalkers by Tony Hillerman. It was a good mystery, but I didn't enjoy it as much as The Dark Wind.

On Friday, I completed the unabridged audio edition of The Absence of Nectar by Kathy Hepinstall. I found it to be both poetic and deeply disturbing. I highly recommend it.

I just completed the abridged audio edition of Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The protagonist Xeo recounts his life story among the Spartans in order to give the Presian King Xerxes an insight into the Spartans' unique character and bravery. The novel uses the stilted language of ancient epic, which made the audio edition particularly enjoyable.

I've listened to some pretty heavy audio books lately, so I decided to try something a little less demanding. I just completed the unabridged audio of Tony Hillerman's The Dark Wind. Katie and Hannah have read a bunch of Hillerman novels, but this was my first.

For its genre, I thought the novel was pretty good. The Native American context is fascinating, and it was a pretty well written mystery.

I just finished the abridged audio edition of City of Light by Lauren Belfer. I enjoyed it a lot. I particularly enjoyed the interplay of scheming and naïveté and the narrator's dawning understanding of the powerful forces shaping her life.

I just listened to the audio edition of Jewel by Bret Lott. Written in the first person, a southern woman tells her life story throughout the twentieth century. I enjoyed the story and the way the narrator found connections between different parts of her life, but at times, these reflections got a little heavy for me. Also, I listened to an abridged audio edition. Large periods of the narrator's life were summarized in a few sentences. I found that a little unnerving, and I wonder what details I missed.

In response to yesterday's post, a reader named Virginia wrote me to say that if I like Alas, Babylon, then I might also be interested in On the Beach by Nevil Shute. Thanks to Virginia, too!

I just finished listening to the audio edition of The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, read by the author. It is a set of vignettes of semi-autobiographical childhood memories. Ms. Cisneros' lyrical prose is beautiful, but this was not my type of book.

In my previous entry, I made reference to a book that I'd read in high school, but I have no idea of the title or author. Well, I'm pleased to say that I have at least one reader of this blog. A reader named Kristie emailed me to suggest that the book might be Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank. After a little research, I'm pleased to find that this is indeed the book. I intend to get it from the library or buy a copy at the earliest opportunity and re-read it. It should be interesting to compare a fresh read to what I remember of it. Thanks, Kristie!

My online friend Rafe Colburn challenged me to pick up the book thread. Here we go...

Total number of books I've owned: Since I have a Ph.D. in literature, I'd have to estimate thousands. A couple of years ago I gave away almost all of my grad school books, probably several hundred. I'm a purger, so I generallly get rid of books unless I know I'll need them again for some specific reason.

We currently have a few hundred books (or maybe a couple thousand; it's hard to estimate) in the house, but most of those are from Katie's graduate work in English education and religious studies, and Hannah and Samuel have a large library of children's and young adult books. There are only a few dozen books in the house that I would identify as belonging only to me, mostly language reference (mostly German) and programming books.

Last book I bought: Well, just this morning I ordered four novels off of Amazon, but three of those were for Katie, and the other was a pre-order of the next Harry Potter book. Although I will read the HP book, I pre-ordered it at Hannah's request. She'll get first dibs on it.

I've recently become an avid patron of the Pflugerville library, so I don't buy so many books for myself these days (and I only ordered the three books for Katie because they aren't in the library). However, a couple of weeks ago I bought ChiRunning at the local Barnes and Noble, since the library doesn't have it.

Last book I read: I'm currently listening to The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros and reading The Prodigal Spy by Joseph Kanon. I'm also reading ChiRunning on and off.

Last book I finished: Yesterday I completed the audio edition of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon.

Some books that mean a lot to me (everyone else listed five; I changed that to 'some'), in no particular order:

• The play Woyzeck by nineteenth-century German playwright Georg Büchner. This play was the primary focus of my doctoral research.


• A book whose name I do not recall that I read in high school. Its plot was about people who survived a nuclear holocaust in the backwoods of Florida. I read this book a couple of times and it occupied my imagination for years. Sometime, I should try to figure out what book it was.


• 1984 and Animal Farm by George Orwell. I read these my senior year of high school and did a literary analysis paper on them in senior English. The paper earned me a high A grade, and my teacher used my paper as a model for the next year's class. Also, due to my participation in competitive extemporaneous and persuasive speaking, I had become very well versed in current political events, and these two political novels opened my eyes politically.

Five People I’d like to do this as well: Since I'm a Z-list blogger, I don't know of any other bloggers who 1.) haven't already probably received the challenge, and 2.) read my site to find out that I've challenged them. However, if one of my (presumed) handful of readers publishes your own book inventory based on reading mine, please let me know. At least I'll know I have a reader that way.

I just finished listening to the audio edition of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon.

The novel is narrated by a 15-year-old boy with autism or Asperberger Syndrome. His difficulty understanding other people's emotions is a powerful literary device for viewing the messy emotional lives of the people around him. I enjoyed this book very much and highly recommend it.

I heard about Eragon a while back on public radio. Christopher Paolini was only fifteen years old when he wrote it. His parents paid to pubilsh the novel and then peddled from the back of their van until they attracted enough attention that he was signed by a publisher.

Hannah checked Eragon out of the library and I started it after she finished. It was very well written, good adolescent fiction. I highly recommend it, and I can't wait for the next book in the trilogy.

My latest drive-time listen was A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines. This novel portrays the complexity of social and racial interactions in post-WW II Louisiana. The protagonist, a college-educated black man, struggles to come to terms with his faith and his place in his community and the world.

I really enjoyed listening to this novel and I highly recommend it. As I was listening, it struck me that this novel could be easily adapted to the screen, and sure enough, it has been. I've set my DVR to record it if it is ever shown on a cable channel that we get.

I just finished listening to the audio edition of Miracle at St. Anna by James McBride. It certainly wasn't my typical read. I don't think I would have ever picked up the print edition of the book, and if I had, I may not have finished it. But since I was a captive audience in traffic, I stuck it out and I'm really glad that I did. I would recommend this book.

I haven't been reading much lately. My interest in reading comes in waves, and I have certainly been between waves for a while. After last summer's disappointing reading, I decided to give up on 'junk' novels and read something a little more substantial. I started John Irving's A Widow for One Year a while back. I am throroughly enjoying it, but it's not engaged me to the point where I had to just finish it immediately.

Well, a few days ago, I decided to take a break from Irving. I have enjoyed some of the other novels by Lincoln Child and Douglas J. Preston (Relic, The Cabinet of Curiosities), so I picked up Childs' Utopia. It was about as I expected: much of the technology was a logical, if stretched, extension of current knowledge, the characters were not terribly deep, and the some of the plot elements were not very subtle. But, it was entertaining enough that I completed it in a couple of days.

I read this book while on vacation based on Fred Clark's blog entry about Christian entertainment. The article that Fred quotes cites Grisham's book as an example of "What Would Jesus Do" in action.

In The Street Lawyer, the protagonist is a high powered lawyer (surprise!) who undergoes an experience that causes him to reject his pursuit of money, prestige, power, etc. Instead, he becomes a low-paid advocate for the homeless.

I would heartily recommend the book as a good example of someone 'walking the walk'. I would also recommend it for its realistic porttrayal of the homeless. Toward the beginning of his change of heart, the protagonist is afraid of the homeless and of the bad parts of D.C. As he gains more experience with the homeless, however, he begins to see them as individuals and loses his fear. That's a great lesson for us all.

For its pure entertainment value, however, I was not so impressed iwth The Street Lawyer. The protagonist undergoes a monumental life change, but frankly we don't see much depth in his character or the other characters.