I'll do the same for the movies I've watched someday soon.
BOOKS
Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - by Susanna Clark
First class world building. Fascinating characters. Second best book I've read this year so far. Challenging yet rewarding. Outstanding stuff.
Silver Screen Fiend - by Patton Oswalt
A fun (but brief) rumination on Oswalt's movie addiction. Introduced me to the concept of one's own Night Cafe moment. Solid.
The Name of the Wind
The Wise Man's Fear - by Patrick Rothfuss
Excellent fantasy novels. *heavy sigh* When is the next one coming out? I still think about these books all the time and I am eagerly looking forward to reading them again. I want to read the next installment of this series more than the next Game of Thrones book. That means I want to read it a whole lot.
The Spy Who Came In From the Cold - by John Le Carre
A bleak, nihilistic cold war spy thriller. I wish I'd discovered Le Carre earlier in my life so I could have read more of his books by now. A treat. A downer. A gem.
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Atlanta Burns - by Chuck Wendig
I've long been a fan of Wendig's website terribleminds.com where he is often silly while being informative on many topics, including writing. This book is not silly. It made me uncomfortable several times. Real people with hard lives making tough choices (often not very good ones) while surrounded by venal and heinous people. Ugh. I dug it.
Field of Prey - by John Sandford
The 24th entry in the Prey series. I've been reading this series since the early 90's. This one is similar to the rest - a tightly paced, character driven police procedural starring Lucas Davenport. This one is creepy and fun.
Deadline - by John Sandord
A spin-off series from the Prey books. Also tightly paced, also character driven police prodecural but this time starring a different cop named Virgil Flowers. Also fun.
The Blade Itself
Before They Are Hanged
The Last Argument of Kings - by Joe Abercrombie
The First Law trilogy. Super fun fantasy novels. Cynical and violent. This is the second time I've read this trilogy. It will not be the last.
Love and Rockets Vols 1-5 by Jaime Hernandez
From its beginings as a kinda sorta sci-fi comic to it's current iteration as a mature character study, these are among my favorite graphic novels of all time. Awesome awesome awesome. Please send me money so I can buy the rest. (and also Jaime's brother Gilbert's GN's as well) This series is an embarassment of riches.
The Colour of Magic - by Terry Pratchett
Fun fantasy novel about a ridiculous world full of ridiculous people (and creatures) and their ridiculous (mis)adventures. It is like reading about the best D&D game of all time where the DM is on laughing gas and the players are drunk and/or concussed. Hilarious.
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East of Eden - by John Steinbeck
Possibly my favorite novel ever. A delight to revisit. The best representation of real people and real problems I've ever read. Every character is recognizable which is why it's such a gut-punch when bad things happen. Wonderful. Tragic. Mesmerizing. A classic book by a titan of the craft. I literally cried when I finished reading it. Again.
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Hounded - by Kevin Hearne
Urban fantasy about a 2100 year old Irish Druid set in Tempe, Arizona of all places. Fast paced, lean, entertaining. Will read more in this series. Good stuff burdened by what kinda resembles a romance novel cover.
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Gathering Prey - by John Sandford
The 25th entry in the Prey series. This one didn't quite grab me as much as some of the previous books. Solid if not spectacular. I did laught out loud a couple of times, but this entry goes to the bottom half of the series.
More stuff coming soon. Gotta go psyche myself up to watch Avengers: Age of Ultron tomorrow. Later kids.
