Category: Books-Fiction

In the Midst of Death – Matthew Scudder #3 – Lawrence Block

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Book 2  of 2017 – A Return to the World of Matthew Scudder….thanks to Lawrence Block

 

One of my Reading Challenges for 2017 is to catch up on a few of the mystery and thriller series that I am behind on. The series that I had in mind include: Daniel Silva’s Gabriel Allon series, Steve Berry’s Cotton Malone  or maybe Alex Berenson’s John Wells series. What I didn’t envision was going back to a series whose last book I read in, oh, 1994!  Anyway, that’s what I did this week when I read In the Midst of Death – book number 3 in Lawrence Block’s Matt Scudder series. I really didn’t set out to read the book. It just happened to be sitting out on a pile of books in the basement, when I was looking for something. Anyway, I picked it up, and didn’t put it down until I finished it!  Lucky for me it was only 246 pages long!!!

Now when I stopped reading the Matt Scudder books, I didn’t stop reading books by Lawrence Block. What I did was switch series and read his Bernie Rhodenbarr series, The Burglar who….. These books had a lot lighter reading than the Matt Scudder books. They were fun! Anyway I read seven of those books up until book 9 The Burglar in the Rye published in 1998.checking with Goodreads I see  that there are three more books in the series. Hmm, maybe I wll come back to that series!!

Matthew Scudder Books I’ve Read

Anyway back to Matthew Scudder. I started to read that series in 1988. Good God! almost 30 years ago!  The first book I read was When the Sacred Gin Mill Closes, book number six in the series.Somehow then  I missed book  7 Out on the Cutting Edge and next read books 8 and 9  A Ticket to the Boneyard and A Dance at the Slaughterhouse, respectively. Cheery titles, eh?  I guess after those I went for the lighter  stuff!!

In The Midst of Death 

From Amazon:

Bad cop Jerry Broadfield didn’t make any friends on the force when he volunteered to squeal to an ambitious d.a. about police corruption. Now he’saccused of murdering a call girl. Matthew Scudder doesn’t think Broadfield’s a killer, but the cops aren’t about to help the unlicensed p.i. prove it — and they may do a lot worse than just get in his way. Read More

My Thoughts on In the Midst of Death

I really enjoyed this book and am now harboring thoughts of re-entering the world of Matthew Scudder. Which is the gritty side of New York City. Matthew is a an ex-cop. He seen life at it worst and for many years used alcohol to get him through it. It’s not until book #5 in the series  Eight Million Ways to Die that Matthew comes to terms with his alcoholism. Matthew is a flawed man but he sees his flaws  and tries to make amends.

Overall the pace of the book was good. The story line never dragged or gave you a reason to put it down. The plot had enough twists and turns  to keep you guessing as to who the murderer was. And as I’ve already said Matt and the other characters are terrific!

Lawrence Block Thoughts on Series Characters in Mystery Scene Magazine

In the holiday 2016 issue of Mystery Scene Magazine. Lawrence Block wrote an article titled “Some Thoughts on Series Characters”. In the article Block compares the characters of Bernie Rhodenbarr and  Matthew Scudder. Her describes the Bernie Rhodenbarr series as a static series.

“Both Bernie and the private universe he inhabits stay essentially the same forever. i’ve never been specific about his age., but he is somewhere in his mid-30s in the first book . Burglars Can’t Be Choosers, first published in 1977 – and he is the same age almost 40 years later.

Bernie doesn’t age – and neither does he change. He’s not stuck in 1977, his home town of New York is up to date in whtever book you encounter him, and he has to be concerned about security cameras and high-tech locks, but he still leads the same life, earns the same unlawful living and has the same doomed relationships with women.”

“…..Matthew Scudder, on the other hand, has aged in real time from one book to the next. . That was never my intention when I began writing about him. I really didn’t give it much thought. but I assumed he’d go on drinking at Jimmy Armstrong’s Saloon as long as his liver held out.

But I discovered he had to age and he had to change. Unlike Bernie Rhodenbarr, Matthew Scudder lived in a far more realistic universe,  and the books I was writing about him hewed to a more realistic line. How could  he fail to be affected by the  experiences he had in his previous adventure?”- From Mystery Scene Magazine Holiday 2016 p 28

Block goes on ti o discuss how in Book 4 (next up for This Man?) A Stab in the Dark. Matthew finds that his alcoholism was becoming more of a problem and  ends with Matthew walking in, and then quickly leaving an AA meeting.

So I know that most of the series I read are not static. The characters change and evolve and that’s what I love about  series. Joe Pickett and his family are not the same family that I met in Open Season  sixteen  books ago!  Nor  is Cork O-Connor and his family. Now Stephanie Plum I don’t know about!

How about anyone else? Have your favorite characters evolved or are they static?

Links for the Further Exploration of the Books of Lawrence Block

 

Author’s Website
Facebook
Twitter
Amazon
Goodreads

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The Critic – Enzo Files # 2 – Peter May

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The Critic – (Enzo Files #2) Another Winner from Peter May

 

So over the last few days I’ve spent a lot of time looking forward to what I want to read and back at what I’ve read. What I have actually missed though is to write about the book that I just finished. Actually, I read the majority of the book in 2016, but I didn’t finish it until New Year’s Day! So it is Book #1 of 2017!  Anyway the book was The Critic by Peter May. It is the second book in May’s Enzo Files series featuring Scottish exile and former forensic specialist Enzo Macleod.

i first became acquainted with the writing of Peter May back in 2006 when I read Firestarter the first book in May’s China Thriller series. While the book was a great read, somehow I have never read any of the other books in the series. A few years ago (wow – looking back at my Goodreads bookshelf I see it was 2012) I saw  The Black House at the library, remembering that I liked Firestarter, I
checked it out and I have been a Peter May fan ever since. The Black House Trilogy was great! In 2016 I read four Peter May books. The first three were stand alones, Entry Island, Coffin Road and Runaway. They too were all terrific reads! The fourth was my first Enzo MacLeod mystery. It is also the first book I finished in 2017. All I can say, keep’em coming Mr May!!

About The Critic – Enzo Files #2

 

In this episode, Enzo travels to the small little known wine-making region of Gaillic in southwestern France. His mission is to solve cold case murder. Three years earlier the world’s number one wine critic, Gil Petty, who disappeared while on a tour of the area. His body was found three years ago, strung up like a scarecrow in among the vines of the vineyard. His body has been preserved in wine before being strung up. Petty’s influence was very  powerful. And one of his reviews could make or break a winery. Do someone kill him to avoid a bad review? Or is it something far deeper?

My Thoughts About The Book

 

This book was a fast and enjoyable read for me. While I didn’t think it had the same power as any of the other May books that I’ve read, it was still good. I liked Enzo MacLeod and thought he was a lot like another forensic investigator Bill Brockton of the Body Farm series.He even had a graduate assistant, His is Nicole and Brockton’s is Miranda. Both have lost their wives and now have trouble with the ladies in their lives!  and I can see Bill enjoying the vino just about as much as Enzo .So if you like The Body Farm books check out this series!!

I also like it when come away from a book with a little more knowledge than when I started. In this book that knowledge came from the discussions of wine-making. carbonic gases play a big part in the story. Also the discussions on wine-tasting was interesting. I am not a wine drinker I didn’t know so many tastes and smells! Finally, it was interesting that wines differ because of the soils and the overall environment, (i.e what side of hillsides) where the grapes are grown. Therefore an analysis of minerals found in the soil could be used in  determining where the grapes that the wine was made from came from!!

Final Rating

All in all, this book was a solid 3.75 out of 5, not quite a 4 star book. And that may be because I am comparing it to other books by Peter May. I will certainly be checking out more of the books that chronicle the adventures of Enzo  MacLeod!

Links for the Further Exploration of the Novels of Peter May

Author’s Website
Goodreads
Amazon

Thoughts about Books Returned to the Library

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Two Books Go Back to the Library Unread, Replaced by Two of My Proposed January Reads!

 

Ok, so who amongst you has ever  encountered this problem. It is actually something that happens to me quite often. You go to the library, either to pick something up or return something. While you’re there you know you have to look through the new releases shelves. Of course , as you scan the books several look interesting and maybe even a book you had seen, say in a book store . So you end up leaving the library with not only the books you came for but a few that you really didn’t need! Yes I always think I can read just a little bit more than I can!!

Anyway that happened to me just a few weeks ago and now a couple of the books that I thought I would read and would still like to read have to go back! The main reason is that two days ago, I requested to other books from the library.And those two books are two of the five books I plan to read this month!! They are The Killing Kind by Chris Holm and Ruler of the Night by David Morrell.

I decided to return  two books of the many books that I have checked out.. But, that I will still leave four books checked out, that I don;t plan to read in January, Yikes! Anyway, rather than just taking the books back, I thought I would write a little about each one and maybe that will help keep them fresh in my mind! So that next time there is a lull in my reading, I can check them out again!!

The Returned Books…..added to my Goodreads to Read Shelf

 

Prisoners of Geography – Ten Maps that Explain Everything about the World – Tim Marshall

Seems like something our new President should read, eh?? From Goodreads…..

All leaders are constrained by geography. Their choices are limited by mountains, rivers, seas and concrete. Yes, to follow world events you need to understand people, ideas and movements – but if you don’t know geography, you’ll never have the full picture.

If you’ve ever wondered why Putin is so obsessed with Crimea, why the USA was destined to become a global superpower, or why China’s power base continues to expand ever outwards, the answers are all here. Read More

Hmmm, maybe I shouldn’t take this one back?? No you made up your mind take it back, mark it as a March read!!

Custer’s Trials – A Life on the Frontier of a New America – T.J. Stile

I grew up watching westerns on TV. I guess that’s one reason that I’ve always loved reading about the Indian Wars. And when I do read about the Indian Wars I always root for the Indians, but somehow they never win. Except for that one time against Custer!  Custer always seemed like that guy you always wanted to root against. So maybe this book will change my opinion of Custer……I doubt it!.

From the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner, a brilliant new biography of Gen. George Armstrong Custer that radically changes our view of the man and his turbulent times.

In this magisterial biography, T. J. Stiles paints a portrait of Custer both deeply personal and sweeping in scope, proving how much of Custer’s legacy has been ignored. He demolishes Custer’s historical caricature, revealing a volatile, contradictory, intense person—capable yet insecure, intelligent yet bigoted, passionate yet self-destructive, a romantic individualist at odds with the institution of the military (he was court-martialed twice in six years). Read More

Another books I should probably keep. Ok, I just put both of the books on my To Read bookshelf at Goodreads. I never do that. Maybe that’s something that I should do from now on, to keep the books fresh in my mind!

2017 Reading Challenges…

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This Man Reads 2017 Reading Challenges…..

Two  years ago I signed up for several Reading Challenges on various websites. The result was that the challenges helped me remain more focused with my reading. So last year I created my own Reading Challenges. They were meant to keep me focused and reading a variety of books. So here is my 2017 version.

I probably should have created these reading challenges back  in December, but I was too busy trying to get past 51 books to do it!   But you know that they always say,”Better Late than Never”. So here are my 2017 Reading Challenges. My overall reading challenge is to read 60 books. I didn’t reach that goal in 2016, but I did read more books in 2016 that 2015 so maybe I can reach the goal this year!!

I have divided my 2017 Reading Challenge into four sub-reading challenges. The first one is the 2017 Literature Reading Challenge. This challenge is meant  to take me out of my reading comfort zone. My comfort zone is composed of mysteries and thrillers. I have set the goal for this Challenge pretty low only 6 books. The books are to be divided as follows.

2017 Literature Reading Challenge

  • Two general fiction books, i.e, books where no one is killed or things are blown up!
  • Two classics that I was supposed to have read in College or High School.
  • Two books that have one an award, like the Pulitzer Prize, the Faulkner award or Man Booker award. Total 6 books

2017 Mystery/Thriller Reading Challenge

The second is my Mystery/Thriller reading challenge. Instead of just saying I am going to read 36 mysteries or thrillers, I have divided this challenge up a  little too….

  • Six books from a series that I have always wanted to read, but have somehow always put off reading.  An example is the Enzo Files series from Peter May. Another example are the Charlie Parker books by John Connolly.
  • Six books from series  that  I need to catch up on for example: Alex Berenson’s John Wells series, Robert Crais’s Elvis Cole series or Daniel Silva’s Gabriel Allon series!!
  •  Twelve books from authors and series that I currently read, i.e Joe Pickett from C.J. Box,
  • Twelve  books from mystery authors that are new to me! One of the ways that I plan to discover new authors is through Mystery Scene magazine.  Andrew and Meaghan gave me a subscription for Christmas and just browsing through the first issue. I found several new authors! Thanks!!

2017 Science Fiction and Nonfiction Reading Challenges

These challenges are both pretty straight forward….

  •  Six Science Fiction books  I plan to divide these books any way I want. The books can be written by either familiar or new to me authors/
  • Twelve  nonfiction books. Basically, they can be anything that catches my fancy!!

Oh, I’ have also created a Kindle/Bookshelf /TBR Pile Challenge!  I want 40 of the books to come from books that are either on my bookshelves or on my Kindle! I spent a lot of time collecting books on my Kindle and then never getting around to reading them! Anyone else have that problem!!

Here is my spreadsheet table that I use to keep track of how I’m doing on my various challenges!

2017 Reading Challenge Kindle Bookshelves Library Total Goal % of Goal
           
2017 Literature Reading Challenge  
   
General Fiction 0 0 0 2 0.00%
Classics (Books I should have read but didn’t) 0 0 0 2 0.00%
Award-Winners 0 0 0 2 0.00%
Sub-total
2017 Mystery/Thriller Reading Challenge  
New Series that I have meant to read 0 1 1 6 16.67%
Series that I am behind on (i.e. Gabriel Allon) 0 0 0 6 0.00%
Current Mystery Authors (series or non-series) 0 0 0 12
New Mystery Authors 0 0 0 12
Sub-total
2017 Science Fiction /Fantasy Challenge   0 0 0 6 0.00%
   
2017 Nonfiction Reading Challenge   0 0 0 12 0.00%
   
0 0 0
Totals 1 60 1.67%
2016 Kindle/Bookshelf Challenge 20 20 20 60

 

In my next post I’ll outline the books that I plan to read in January of 2017!! Wish Me Luck!!

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Update: With December Reads, I Tie 2015 Total!

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With Four Books Read in December I Tie My 2015 Total Books Read

 

So I haven’t posted anything for a week, but that doesn’t mean that things haven’t been happening. Hey, it’s Christmas time there’s always lots to do! Most of it has been things around the house, but there’s also work at Target and babysitting Zoe. Then again maybe it’s just that I have been lazy about writing! The one thing that I have done is reading.   These are the four books that I have finished so far this month

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December Reads

 

Book 48 – Flip – Kevin Cook – I really enjoyed this book about one of the top black comedians of the 60s and 70s. The book opened my eyes to many aspects of Wilson’s life. The of the aspects of his life that I knew little about was his early life and his drug use before and during his famous TV show. The book did bring back a lot of memories and smiles though. It has been many years since I.thought about :”Chris gonna’ find Ray Charles! and The Devil Made Me Do it!

Book 49 – The Nordic Theory of Everything – Anu Partanen – Another enjoyable an informative book. I thought that this was an honest analysis of what the Finnish and Nordic political system does right and sometimes wrong. At a time when it looks like our government is hellbent on destroying our healthcare system and our safety nets, it was nice to dream about what it must be like to have health care you don’t have to worry about bankrupting you , free daycare and one of the top educational systems in the world.One of the most interesting things to me was that Nordics don’t mind paying taxes because they know what they are getting back for their money!!

Another thought is that we don’t need a bigger government but a smarter government!

Book 50 – The Revenge of Geography – Robert D, Kaplan –  I must confess that I read the majority of this book a while ago.The book does provide a good analysis of the impact of geography on the world’s geopolitics From Goodreads:

In The Revenge of Geography, Kaplan builds on the insights, discoveries, and theories of great geographers and geopolitical thinkers of the near and distant past to look back at critical pivots in history and then to look forward at the evolving global scene. Kaplan traces the history of the world’s hot spots by examining their climates, topographies, and proximities to other embattled lands. The Russian steppe’s pitiless climate and limited vegetation bred hard and cruel men bent on destruction, for example, while Nazi geopoliticians distorted geopolitics entirely, calculating that space on the globe used by the British Empire and the Soviet Union could be swallowed by a greater German homeland. Read More

Book 51 – Blind Sight – Carol O’Connell – This is book 12 in the Kathleen Mallory series from Carol O’Connell. Several years ago I
stopped this series after book 6  Crime School. for whatever reason I couldn’t get into Book 7 Dead Famous. After a few years I decided to jump back into the series at book number 10 – The Chalk Girl. Since then I have kept up with the series. I have read both  the following books It Happens in the Dark and the current release Blind Sight

My rather unrealistic goal was to read 60 books this year. Last year my goal was 50 books and  I surpassed that goal and read 51 books. So I have already matched total number of books I read last year with almost two weeks left in the year! I know I am not going to get to 60 books. But every book I do finish beats a pretty good 2015!!

Oh and I am still working on my Reading Challenges for next year, I will write about them soon!

Home – Harlan Coben – (Myron Bolitar # 11)

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Home is book 11 in the Myron Bolitar series from Harlan Coben. Once again Harlan both fictionally and writingwise brings it Home!

The Story

Home revolves around the ten year-old kidnapping of two boys Patrick and Rhys. The boys were captured, while they were playing at Patrick’s home. The kidnappers demanded ransom but nothing more was heard  about the boys.

Until Rhys’ mother Brooke receives an anonymous tip that Patrick was spotted in London. Quickly, she calls her brother Win Lockwood to check it out. Win tracks down Patrick in London. He kills three men hassling Patrick, but Patrick flees the site. So Win calls his best friend Myron Bolitar for help!! They find Patrick and bring him Home but questions remain unanswered….

Where has Patrick been for ten years? What does he remember about the day of the kidnapping? And most importantly, where is Rhys, Win’s Nephew?

Soon Win and Myron are on a quest to discover the answers to these questions. Along the way, Myron’s former partner Esperanza Spaulding and receptionist Bi Cyndi help Myron and Win discover the truth!

Thoughts about Home and the books of Harlan Coben

It’s been five years and five standalone thrillers between Myron Bolitar books and it;s great to have Myron and the gang back!

I love Harlan’s stand-alone books, but I always enjoy the Bolitar books a little more. I think it’s simply the character development over the course of a series. In a stand alone book, the reader just gets to know the characters and the book is over!

As is usually the case with Harlan Coben’s novels there is always a psychological message and in this book the message deals with friendship, family, and the meaning of home.

Here’s what some others have to say about Home

“Edgar-winner Coben’s action-packed 11th thriller featuring sports agent Myron Bolitar (after 2011’s Live Wire) blends family drama with a twisty plot… This page-turner is sure to please Coben’s many fans.” —Publishers Weekly on Home

“Series fans will be happy to see Myron, Win, Esperanza, and other recurring characters… given the size of Coben’s audience, this one is sure to be popular. With five years since the last Bolitar novel, expect holds.” —Booklist on Home

Bottom Line

Home is another winner from Harlan Coben. And I still love Myron as much as the standalones!

Rating:

thumbs-up-2-3
thumbs-up-2-3
thumbs-up-2-3
thumbs-up-2-3

 

Author’s Website
Wikipedia
Goodreads
Amazon

Harlan Coben

About Harlan Coben

Harlan Coben (born 1962) is a renowned #1 New York Times bestselling American author known for fast-paced thrillers and mysteries characterized by multiple twists, domestic secrets, and long-buried past events resurfacing

Peter May Returns to the Outer Hebrides in Coffin Road

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Yesterday I finished Home by Harlan Coben, the 47th book I have read in 2016. It is also the fifth book that I have finished in November. My goal for the year was to read 60 books. To meet that goal I needed to read five books per month.

Unfortunately there have been more than a few months where I came up short of that goal. So right now I would need to read 13 books over the next 4 plus weeks to get to 60! So

It looks like that I will not reach my goal of 60 books. However, I will surpass 50 books and if I read five more books I will beat last years total of 51 books. Wish me luck!

Now the last book I have written about was book 44   The Kept Woman by Karin Slaughter. So here is book 45 Coffin Road by Peter May

Coffin Road – Peter May

Thanks to the talents of my favorite authors, I visit many places around the globe. I think that currently my favorite place to visit is the Isle of Harris in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides. I first visited this rugged wind-swept Isle in May’s The Black House and returned via the other two books in his Lewis Trilogy The Lewis Man and The Chessmen. All three visits were terrific, so you should certainly make the trip! My most recent visit via May’s novel Coffin Road was just as wonderful.

I love reading the works of author’s who can create a sense of place in their work. So that after you read the book you feel like you have been to the locale. May certainly does that as well as any writer I know.

The Story

From the Book Jacket…

On the remote Isle of Harris in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides, a man washes up on a deserted beach, hypothermic, and completely disoriented. He has no idea who he is or how he got there. The only clue to his condition is a map of the island showing a desolate  ancient path called the Coffin Road. With a sense of dread and no clear idea what lies at the other end, he knows he must follow the trail if he has any hopes of discovering his identity…..

The man soon discovers that his name is Neal Maclean and he has lived on the  Isle of Harris for eighteen months. He is there writing a book about the disappearance of the three keepers of the lighthouse on the island of Eilean Mor in the Flannan Isles.

The keepers disappeared during a storm in December of 1900. The man remembers nothing about writing the book, but does fear that he may have done something dreadful on the island, prior to his being washed into the sea.

Meanwhile, a teenage girl living in Edinburgh is desperate to discover the truth about her father’s death. Two year’s after his suicide she sets out to discover the truth. After she reads his suicide note, which her mother gives to her to shut her up. she believes he may not be dead! The more she digs the more she is convinced she is right!

Bottom Line……

Coffin Road is another amazing read from Peter May. Everything clicks for me in this book. May paints both the setting and the characters well. While the storyline twists and turns and keeps the reader guessing. What did happen on Eilean Mor?  And who is Neal Maclean?

I always like to read the quotes on the back of books and see which ones sum up how I feel about the book. Here are two quotes that fit the bill!

” An eminently satisfying , multilayered mystery populated with sharply drawn characters…The many threads of the story play out against a landscape that May, a native Scot, renders vividly. His images capture the capricious play of light and weather across the sea and the moors, matching the surprises in this tale” – Kirkus Reviews

“An extremely chilling tale. From a man with a memory loss, to a young girl dealing with the loss of her father, to a policeman unmasking the past, readers will have to pay close attention so they don’t lose track of the amazing web May has created” – Suspense Magazine

Rating – Four and a half Thumbs Up out of five!

Links for the Further Exploration of the Novels of Peter May

Author’s Website
Goodreads
Amazon

 

 

October Reads and Reading Challenges Update!

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Where DID October Go!

Ok I give up where did October go? Seems like the NFL season just began and now we’re at Week 8. The World Series is at Game 5 and both the NBA and NHL have begun their seasons. And yesterday the two colleges that I attended. As the Universities of Florida and Georgia renewed their heated rivalry.  I really don’t care which team wins most of the time. But it’s always nice when the team that needs it more gets the victory. Since the Gators stayed atop the SEC East with the victory, I was glad they won.

October Reads….

Now back to my October reads and particularly the places that I visited this month thanks to the work of some great authors. Here are the five books that I read this month.

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Where My Fiction Reads Took Me In October!

The three novels that I read took me to some familiar places with some old friends and to a new spot in Sweden with a new fried. First up was a visit with Cork O’Connor and his family in Aurora, Minnesota. As usual the visit was exciting.  First in Manitou Canyon by William Kent Krueger, I visited the North Boundary Waters of Minnesota and eventually Manitou Canyon in Canada.

In Borkmann’s Point by Hakan Nesser an author that is new to me I visited the coastal town of Kaalbringen,, Sweden.  I met Chief Inspector Van Veeteren in Kallbringen, where Veeteren was sent to help solve the brutal murders of  several seemingly unrelated victims. It was a great read and I will write more about the book soon.

The last novel that I read took me to The Body Farm in Knoxville, Tennessee. In Without Mercy by Jefferson Bass, forensic anthropologist Bill Brockton  is called to help solve the tortuous murder of a young man chained to a tree. In the book Brockton also faces a sadistic killer from his past. I will write more about the book soon.

Non-Fiction Reads….

In October, I also read two non-fiction books.Connectography – Mapping the Future of  Global Civilization by Parag Khanna. was the first book. In the book Khanna opened my eyes and mind to the new Connectivity found around the world. Ad how as Americans we are falling behind the world , rather than leading! The other non-fiction book I read was Saving Capitalism by Robert Reich. In Saving Democracy Reich explains the problems we are facing as a result of the rigging of the system by the wealthy against the common man. Reich also provides several methods that may right our Capitalistic ship!

Reading Challenges Update…..

Where do I stand on my various Reading Challenges after reading five books in October. The following table shows the results.

Ed K’s 2016 Reading Challenges TBR Library Total Goal % of Goal
         
2016 Literature Reading Challenge
General Fiction 1 3 3 6 50.00%
Classics 0 0 0 6 0.00%
NY Times Bestseller List 0 0 0 6 0.00%
Award-Winners 1 1 3 6 50.00%
2015 Mystery/Thriller Reading Challenge
Rgrandad’s Mysteries 4 20 24 10 240.00%
Women Mystery Book Authors 1 0 2 10 20.00%
2016 Science Fiction /Fantasy Challenge 0 0 1 6 16.67%
2016 Nonfiction Reading Challenge 3 6 9 10 90.00%
 
Totals 0 0 0
42 60 70.00%
2016 TBR Pile Challenge 10 25 40.00%

 

As you can see, I suck on most of my challenges! I am only doing well on two challenges. The first on is my  Rgrandad Mysteries challenge, where I have read fourteen books more that my challenge total. The other one is my 2016 Nonfiction Reading Challenge. In that challenge I have read 9 out of 10 books.

Bottom Line:

t I will most likely not make my overall goal of 60 books for the year. However I only need to read ten books to read more books than I did in 2015 (51). Hmm, looks like I need to read three more general fiction books, I will meet that challenge. Then if I read three award-winning books I meet that challenge and one more non-fiction to achieve that challenge. By reading those books I will have met four out of eight of my challenges and have read 49 books. That means I only would need to read three more books to beat last years total! I’ll be back later to make a list of proposed reads for November!!

September Reading Challenges Update!

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A Quick Update of Where I Stand on My 2016 Reading Challenges

So far this month I have finished three books. They are; Life with Pi, The Winter Fortress and most recently Dark Run. This brings my total number of books read in 2016 to 35 books. My lofty goal is 60 books. So right now I am way behind the pace I need (five books per month) to read to reach that goal. However, I am not that far off the pace needed to match last years total of 51 books.

Where I Stand  on My 2016 Reading Challenges

Yesterday I sat down and reviewed where I stood on my various Reading Challenges. Here’s a tabulation of where I stand right now!

Ed K’s 2016 Reading Challenges TBR Library Total Goal % of Goal
         
2016 Literature Reading Challenge
General Fiction 1 3 3 6 50.00%
Classics 0 0 0 6 0.00%
NY Times Bestseller List 0 0 0 6 0.00%
Award-Winners 1 2 3 6 50.00%
2015 Mystery/Thriller Reading Challenge
Rgrandad’s Mysteries 3 18 21 10 210.00%
Women Mystery Book Authors 1 0 2 10 20.00%
2016 Science Fiction /Fantasy Challenge 0 0 1 6 16.67%
2016 Nonfiction Reading Challenge 2 3 5 10 50.00%
 
 Total 35 60 58.33%
2016 TBR Pile Challenge 8 25 32.00%

 

Hmm, it looks like I am kicking  butt with those mysteries, but everything else is lagging behiind! Well, I guess I’m not doing too badly in the General Fiction, award-winners and nonfiction challenges, But it looks like I have my work cut out for me in several of the other categories!!

Books I am Currently Reading and Plan on Reading

Here’s a table of the next group of books I have started along with the books I am planning to read.

Currently Reading Challenge
Books to Finish
Connectography – Parag Khanna Nonfiction
The One Plan Nonfiction
Finding Family Nonfiction
New Books
The Lightning Stones – Jack DuBrul Ed K’s Mysteries
Spies in the Congo – Susan Williams Nonfiction
Redemption Road – John Hart General Fiction
The Last Dead Girl – Harry Dolan Ed K’s Mysteries

 

Maybe I should replace these two mysteries with a classic or woman/s mystery book. I could possibly even replace one with another science fiction book. I am kinda in Sci-fi mode. So maybe it won’t be hard to venture into another world. Maybe .even a sci-fi classic – something from H.G.  Wells??

Does anybody have a suggestions? Read any good books lately???

Ed K Finally Reads Life of Pi

  By
 Life of Pi by Yann Martel – it’s about time! (Book 34 of 2016)

I am a simple man, in more ways than one.  As such when I read, I like a straight forward story. Boy meats girl, boy cuts up girl into a thousand little pieces. Then my hero comes in and needs to figure out who the killer is before he can strike again. Another story may involve an evil person or group about to wreak havoc on the world. Again my hero must save the day! But every once in a while I visit the dark side. I read a book where the message is hidden and symbolism abounds. Such is the case with Life of Pi (book 34 for 2016) by Yann Martel. I’m confused! But I for one like the story with the animals.

For whatever reason, (oh yeah I don’t read  much literature) I have put off reading Life of Pi. Many have not only read the book, but they have seen the Academy Award winning Ang Lee movie!

The Story

.By now everyone knows the story, A young Indian boy and his family are moving to Canada on a cargo ship with animals from their Pondicherry zoo. During the early part of the trip the boat sinks leaving young  Piscine Molitor “Pi” Patel on a lifeboat with a hyena, an orangutan a zebra with a broken leg and a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. The remainder of the novel tells how Pi’ survived 227 days on that lifeboat with the tiger – Richard Parker.

The Meanings

From Wikipedia

Life of Pi, according to Yann Martel, can be summarized in three statements: “Life is a story… You can choose your story… A story with God is the better story.

According to Gordon Houser there are two main themes of the book: “that all life is interdependent, and that we live and breathe via belief.”

PBS has described Martel’s story as one of “personal growth through adversity.

Ok so if you haven’t read the book or seen the movie you may want to stop reading here. Maybe you may want to go find either of the two  and either read  the book or watch the movie. Or you can just read on at your own risk.

The Main Theme of the Book?????

At the end of Life of Pi, Pi is questioned about his ordeal by two representatives from the Maritime Department in the Japanese Ministry of Transport investigating the sinking of the Tsimtsum…….. Pi tells them his story as it is relayed in the book, complete with the hyena, zebra, orangutan and tiger. The investigators find the story hard to believe. So Pi tells them another story.

In this bleak story. Pi is on the lifeboat with a French cook, a sailor with a broken leg, and Pi’s mother. In turn the French cook cut off the leg of the sailor and eventually eats him. He also kills Pi’s mother. Pi i n turn kills and eats the cook and eventually his own mother.

One of the investigators immediately sees the similarities between the two stories. He sees that the zebra with the broken leg is the Taiwanese sailor, the hyena is the French Cook and the Orangutan Pi’s mother and the Tiger Richard Parker is Pi himself.

At the end of the interview Pi says this to the two investigators

“in both stories the ship sinks, my entire family dies and I suffer……

.:… so tell me since it makes no factual difference to you and you can’t prove the question either way, which story do you prefer? Which is the better story, the story with animals or the story without animals?”

The two men both answer “The story with the animals is the better story”

Pi Patel’s response is ‘Thank you. And so it goes with God”

My Confusing Thoughts…..

So I guess what Martel is saying in our story of life, we are presented with two stories one with God (animals) and one without. Both stories will end the same we will suffer, but is the better life the one with God. And it doesn’t matter that God’s existence can not factually be proven either way.

Am I close? or is it…….that we choose to believe the stories of our religions because they help mask the realities of our lives???   Aah! I don’t know and my head hurts just thinking about it! Yes I like the story with the animals better too… so does that mean I should believe in the story of Noah’s Ark, the virgin birth or that Jesus is the son of God who the Almighty sent here to save us, just because it is a better story???  Ugh I think I am meant to read non-fiction but wait if I just read dull facts, aren’t I missing the better story!! Oh no………

Actually, I enjoyed the book and would highly recommend it. It’s just that I am as I like to say “literaturely challenged”. I have trouble seeing beyond the dull factuality of books!