Books I've Read

A rather long (527 page) story with way too much fighting. I did not like all the tedious battles, and I thought the various Supermen confusing. It was depressing to see Supergirl under Lex Luther's thumb, but there was hope she would eventually see through his shenanigans. I have not kept up with the Superman saga; this book clashes with what I remember, and of course the movies and television series do not follow the storyline as laid out in this book. I guess I will try to forget I ever read this.

Four kids save the world from an evil genius. Pretty good stuff, with some good puzzles that I thought I got, but didn't, just like some of the characters in the book. Never did figure out the final puzzle, though.

The third book has the group in an exciting adventure when Mr. Curtain attacks Mr. Benedict's house and steals away the Whisperer.

Novel about 60s women in Mississippi and the women who work for them. Might make a good movie!

A novelized biography of the author's family coming to America and eventually settling in Oregon. Vanity published, I guess, the printing was poorly done in the beginning, and there are some editing problems, but after getting past the Dutch ancestors (WHY do they keep using the same names for everyone??) I became engaged with the story, and even teared up a bit at points. Still looking for that Huntington family chart, though!

It is just one darn thing after another when Vera and brother Will go to rescue their friend Kai. I liked the first half of the book more than the second.

Contents:
“The Mocking Tower”, Daniel Abraham
“Don’t Press Charges and I Won’t Sue”, Charlie Jane Anders
“Probably Still the Chosen One”, Kelly Barnhill
“My English Name”, R. S. Benedict
“Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance”, Tobias Buckell
“Though She Be But Little”, C.S.E. Cooney
“The Moon is Not a Battlefield”, Indrapramit Das
“The Hermit of Houston”, Samuel R. Delany
“The Discrete Charm of the Turing Machine”, Greg Egan
“Crispin’s Model”, Max Gladstone
“Come See the Living Dryad”, Theodora Goss
“Bring Your Own Spoon”, Saad Z. Hossain
“Babylon”, Dave Hutchison
“The Faerie Tree”, Kathleen Kayembe
“Fairy Tale of Wood Street”, Caitlin R Kiernan
“The Worshipful Society of Glovers”, Mary Robinette Kowal
“An Evening with Severyn Grimes”, Rich Larson
“The Chameleon’s Gloves”, Yoon Ha Lee
“The Smoke of Gold is Glory”, Scott Lynch
“Sidewalks”, Maureen McHugh
“Concessions”, Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali
“The Martian Obelisk”, Linda Nagata
“The Secret Life of Bots”, Suzanne Palmer
“A Series of Steaks”, Vina Jie-Min Prasad
“Belladonna Nights”, Alastair Reynolds
“Eminence”, Karl Schroeder
“The Lamentation of their Women”, Kai Ashante Wilson
“Confessions of a Con Girl”, Nick Wolven
“Carnival Nine”, Caroline M. Yoachim

Elora lives near a big swamp/forest in Indiana and collect moths First published in 1909, this 2013 eBook. Pretty much a classic.

This book takes place before A Girl Of The Limberlost, and concerns Freckles and the Swamp Angel. Pretty good, if effusive.

Fun read of fictional letters to home from a soldier in the U.S. Army during World War I. A few objectionable racist terms appear, sadly. I read the Project Gutenberg e-book version.

A novel about UFOs. Didn't care for it. Check my blog entry for points of complaint.

A free e-book (short story) download about two guys, cousins, named Lenny (who appeared in another book that takes place before) who have acquired a large quantity of "E" and need to sell to...someone. Good story.

Brains and Hammers get make dumb decisions and get caught up in the shenanigans of a crime bosses' daughter. Read the Kindle edition.

Amber is on the job as an assassin, but her past keeps interfering. A short story e-book download. Good story!

Some people try to steal some drug money, but it goes all wrong. I'd like to know what happened to all the characters!

Quite a number of people find their lives intertwining in not necessarily fun (but interesting!) ways at a decrepit hotel located in Melbourne.

I liked the first book so much I read it twice, then I bought the second book and several others by the author. I signed up for his emails and I got one that asked if I wanted to get free preview copies in return for a review. I don't think the author has seen how poorly I write!

A complicated future cybernistic world with replicators and all kinds of stuff. Robin is some sort of undercover espionage soldier. Took about 80 pages to get going. Good story. Some Prisoner references, some library stuff.

Crime in near-future Edinburgh. Lots of cybertalk, very Neal Stephensonish, but about two hundred pages shorter. On Amazon a commenter says the book is told in second person. I don't know if that is correct, but it certainly is written in a different-than-usual style.

Earth is taken up and stuck on a big, flat disk. A really BIG, flat disk!

On page 86, if Lenin is one head, Stalin is another, and the big is third, who is the fourth head mentioned in the text. And I quote, "Gagarin brings his binoculars to focus on the fourth head." Not to mention that the illustration on the facing page shows three heads...

The book jackets says this is the "Signed, Lettered Edition" priced at 150 bucks. But I don't see any signing, nor lettering. Did the library get ripped off? Is this some scam edition?