Another Interview (Still Not Mine)

And the interviewee and interviewer reverse tasks.

Interview (Not Mine)

Two of my newer favorite authors talking about the latest Harry Dresden book.

More Reading

I'm continuing my return journey through Terry Pratchett's Discworld, and have reached some of my favorites. Lord and Ladies is a wonderful blend "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and a reversal of "The Taming of the Shrew". Now I'm almost done with Men at Arms with all the fun that an Ankh-Morpork guards' book entails.

While in the middle of Men at Arms, I had a Jim Butcher book come in at the library called Side Jobs. It's a collection of Butcher's short stories so far that involve the adventures of Harry Dresden. One of the fun parts is seeing, in a very rapid sense, the growth of Butcher's writing skills.

At this point, if Jennifer (or anyone else who is a Dresden fan who has not read the book), you need to stop reading.

...

I'll wait.

...

So, the last story, which begins only a couple hours after the end of Changes which ended with Harry being shot and falling into Lake Michigan from his boat, is frustrating. It ends up being more about Murphy coming to terms with Harry most likely being dead.

And there is no resolution to Harry's fate.

At least in April, there will be some sort of resolution. the next book comes out then and is entitled Ghost Story.

Changes

"... and can you identify the book that did this to you sir?'

"Oh, it was horrible. I'll never forget it. All the promises and build-up and then for it... to just... I don't know if I can maintain. Do we have to do this now?"

"Yes, sir. I apologize, and I can only imagine what you must be going through right now, but please, if you name the book, so many others might be helped."

"All right, I can understand your situation. It was that one. That one right there... Jim Butcher's Changes!"

"Thank you, sir. You've been very helpful."



You have all been warned.

It's Time for Another Good Idea-Bad Idea

Good Idea: Staying up late to finish First Lord's Fury by Jim Butcher.

Bad Idea: Staying up until 1:30 AM to finish First Lord's Fury by Jim Butcher when you have to get up an hour early for a your company's safety meeting.

The End

Book Round-Up

So let's see, where was I?

I finished The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, and I do heartily look forward to the last two books in the series. There were good reveals and some fun action. I could pretty easily tell what parts had been written by Jordan, and what parts were wholly Sanderson. It can make a person wish that Sanderson wrote the entire thing. His style is so much more free and flowing. Jordan's by comparison brings to mind the tone and meter of a Norse epic.

Then I moved on the Audrey Niffenegger's Her Fearful Symmetry. Now this book is Niffenegger's second novel, and I could easily add her first, The Time-Traveler's Wife, to my annual rotation. And the first three quarters of this book, I felt the same way about. And then stuff happened. It's about the only way I can say it. Things happen and the train goes hurtling off he tracks and over the hills to have a picnic. Sure its unpredictable, but it just made me say, "Whah?"

And for now, I'm filling my time with fluff. I wait patiently (kind of) for John to get and read, and then lend me Jim Butcher's conclusion to his Codex Alera series First Lord's Fury. I have joyous hope.

***

As another diversion, I've been watching the video's of Yahtzee's Zero Punctuation. I don't play a lot of video games, mostly because I don't have a game console, but for those I do play or even know about, his videos have been hilarious. And then I've watched some others and they've been funny too. Quite worth the time.

Turn Coat

I have just finished the latest Harry Dresden book. It is 418 pages of joy and excitement.

How do you know a good book?

When you are on page 321, and the big fight is just about to begin.

A great book?

When what you think is the big fight is penultimate.

Jim Butcher is an amazing storyteller.

The Field... The Field...

And so with today's two vapor extraction wells installed, we are right on schedule to complete our latest job by next Thursday.

Should things go well, we'll be ahead of the game by at least one day possibly two tomorrow.

***

Last night I read a Jim Butcher short story, and this evening I've finished another one. they really are amazing, and they give a good momentum for what's going on between the full length novels.

I think I'll just set Donnerjack aside for a while.

***

And tomorrow night, Jennifer, Holly, and I are going to see the new Star Trek. I'm, excited, Holly is excited, and Jennifer is beside herself.

And More Reading

Burning through the books lately, but then these have not been really difficult reads.

I read the supernatural short stories, and they were good. It's always nice to have additional Kelley Armstrong and Jim Butcher stories to read.

Two additional books I read this weekend were recommendations from Dian.

The Adrian Mole Diaries by Sue Townsend is a fun book written in diary form by a boy who begins the book at age 13 3/4. It's very British, with dry humor, and kind of sitcom-ish with the way things are misunderstood. There are two other books I have requested at the library, so I look forward to seeing how the tale goes.

Candy Freak by Steve Almond is a book written about the candy industry, focusing on the small candy producers. It turns out that I have a few dark chocolate bars from one of the plants that he visits. It wasn't a great book, but it was informative. It does make you crave candy while reading it though.

Other Reading

Okay, so Donnerjack really hasn't been keeping my attention of late. I've had some books come in from the library, and then built a list while I was in Seattle, and got a new stack of books from the library that I have to work on now.

While in Seattle, I finished Princeps Fury, which was a very good read. The momentum was such that I ended up staying up late reading Sunday night.

Also Dian had a fun book she had been given that I devoured while I was up there. The Invention of Hugo Cabret is almost a graphic novel, but is more like a novel with storyboards interspersed in it. It tells the tale of a boy and his serendipitous time living in a train station.

I also read a couple tales from My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding. Which had a Harry Dresden story in it as well as a story by Kelley Armstrong. Both were fun little tales, good for tiding me over until the next full length book comes out.

And finally, although it was a complete book, Backup would barely qualify as a novella, and is really just a bound short story. It's another Harry Dresden story, but this time told from his brother Thomas' perspective.

And then this evening I just finished the first of a new group of books from the library. This one was Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, and its' about an old man remembering his time in a traveling circus during the Great Depression. Totally not my normal thing, but very entertaining. And quite the fast read. I got it at the library yesterday, and just finished it.

Now I'm on to another couple collection of supernatural short stories with tales by Jim Butcher and Kelley Armstrong again. And tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day!

And another thing...

Oh yes, I forgot to tell you...



I finished The Name of the Wind Thursday night. I liked it so much, that I've ordered a hardback version from Amazon, and will be collecting all subsequent books in hardback.

Ask John... I don't do this.

I'm cheap. Books come out in hardback, and I read friend's copies or the library's and then if I like it I'll buy the paperback. The only exception to this so far has been Terry Pratchett and his Tiffany Aching books. WFM. HFoS. WS.

And now Patrick Rothfuss.

If you want to feel how his writing style moves, go to the book store and read the single page first chapter. It is practically prose poetry.

The first paragraph got Jennifer hooked.

And I have to wait until April 2009 for the second book.

I did get a cool book from mom on Sunday though. It's an anthology about vampires. There are a lot of short stories in it, but I'll probably only read two of them.

One is by Kelley Armstrong and is about her female vampire Cassandra.

The other is by Jim Butcher, and is about Harry Dresden's brother.

And before John goes racing for Borders...



Oh yes, I forgot to tell you...



This is a galley. One of mom's friends is somehow connected with the writing community, and she gets galleys from publishers.

I promise that after Jennifer has read it, I will pass it along to John. And if he asks nicely, maybe then on to Jay.

But is there any food?

So today I finished the latest Harry Dresden book by Jim Butcher. And they just keep getting better.

The entire series is a fun read. The internal "physics" of magic is great. It has just about anything a person reading supernatural could want. There are necromancers, demons, faerie/sidhe, holy warriors, fallen angels, vampires (three kinds, yet), and of course wizards.

Harry has become such a well defined character. And even though there is a continuity along the stories, it's not so ingrained in the overall story that Butcher feels the need to rehash all previous events at the beginning of a new book. You don't even get a description of Harry Dresden in this new book for at least 50 pages.

Now, while I know there were problems with the Sci-Fi Channel's TV series, I did find it entertaining, and I do tend to picture Harry like that actor, and I hear Bob's voice from the show when he speaks in the books. Beyond that? Not so much. The show is a fun watch if you haven't read the books, and they would make me want to read the books once I had seen it, but they have less to do with the books than the movie Jurassic Park did with the book.

So now I get to move on to reading the latest Kelley Armstrong. I got a hint of what Hope (the half-demon protagonist) will be like from reading Dates from Hell, a collection of four short stories by different female authors of modern supernatural. I'm hoping (seriously no pun intended) that she is as fun in the book as she was in the novella.