Tuesday, June 29, 2010

The Slynx, by Tatyana Tolstaya

 
Recent web searches for more apocalyptic literature produced a hit for this book, the Slynx.  While technically it does take place after a nuclear (or some other) blast, it wasn't really what I expected.  That said it was a wonderful book, or at least 3/4 of a wonderful book.  I thought the ending was weak, but it didn't take away from my overall enjoyment.  No doubt part of that was b/c the book was so different from anything I'd expected.  A great find, the kind of book I'd never have known to check out from the library without such a recommendation.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

The Postman, by David Brin

 
Another apocalyptic tale, this is one where I saw the movie years ago and liked it, but didn't love it.  At the time I had no idea it was based on a book, but as I now blow through these various end-of-the-word novels I kept seeing this one popping up on various lists. 
 
Liked it quite a bit.  It wasn't perfect, but the story kept me reading and interested the entire way through.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Blackwater, by Kerstin Ekman

A couple of years ago we canceled our subscription to the Washington Post.  Just didn't enjoy that paper any longer.  They'd removed the stand-alone business section and merged it with another, their comics  pages was increasingly lame, and we no longer enjoyed their local or national coverage.  Being a local blogger we knew how to find the local coverage we wanted online, so with some left of airline miles we switched to the Wall Street Journal for six months for free.

Really enjoyed the WSJ and we've kept it as our daily paper for a few years now.  I mention this because it was in the WSJ that I first heard about Kerstin Ekman's book Blackwater.  Just a one sentence suggestion for beach reading, noting that it was about a grisly murder in a Swedish forest.  That sounded interesting so it's been on my list for a number of months.

Paperback Swap came through recently with the book and it took me about a week to finish.  While not at all what I expected, it was still a worthwhile read.  It is partly about a murder, that does kind of center the story.  But I found it more about loneliness, isolation, I don't know.  Maybe I was just in the right place, frame of mind for this story, but I found it very enjoyable.  Moody and dark, a slow but ultimately satisfying read.

Monday, June 14, 2010

The Girl Who Played With Fire, by Stieg Larsson


The second novel in the Salander/Blomkvist trilogy.  My sister has sent me both books so far to read (I dropped the first book in the bath while reading it) and I've really enjoyed them a lot.  I liked the first book (Girl W/ Dragon Tattoo) much more than this one, but together they make for two very fun reads.

My biggest complaint with this book is that it doesn't stand alone.  It would have been significantly less enjoyable had I not read the first book.  And the ending, really no ending at all, is just a place holder for the third book.

But those are minor complaints.  I did read the first book, and I plan to read the third, so all in all a very enjoyable read.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Alas, Babylon, by Pat Frank

Another pickup from PaperBack Swap, really enjoyed this one although it was pretty hard to read.  A nuclear war survival story about a group in central Florida.  It took me a while to get through this, not because it was dense or boring, I've just not had a lot of time to devote to pleasure reading.  I hope that changes soon.