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Andrew Hess
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Posted: 28 April 2013 at 2:02pm | IP Logged | 1 post reply

106) "Ghostman" by Roger Hobbs

After a huge heist goes horribly wrong, the criminal who planned the job hires a crook with the training to disappear after a heist (a "ghostman") to figure out where the thug went with the cash.

Part of the increasing genre of super-knowledgable cop/criminal caper novel, this one wasn't bad. For example, the main character admits he doesn't know details so gets outside help; and a previous job where he made a horrible mistake is interwoven into this story. Nice debut novel, but don't necessarily look forward to this as a series.
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Andrew Hess
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Posted: 29 April 2013 at 10:49pm | IP Logged | 2 post reply

107) "Second Foundation" by Isaac Asimov, read by Scott Brick

With the galactic empire in decay, and the Mule's hopes for ruling the galaxy disarmed, the Foundation realizes that it is Hari Seldon's Second Foundation that is meant to be the new Empire, so they set out to find and destroy it.

Ugh, so hard getting thru this. I may have been put off by the earlier books, but the long stretches of dialogue (some times with as many as *three* people!), general lack of action (tho, again, a little narrative did sneak in) and no real future science to speak of really bore in on me. I knew Asimov could be talky, but this was just too much. Might be a while before I give him another try.
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Andrew Hess
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Posted: 30 April 2013 at 10:42pm | IP Logged | 3 post reply

108)""Torah" written by G*d, transcribed by Moses


I think it fitting, ending the Year of 100 Books that I started last May 1 with a book that I have been reading (in part) every year since I converted over 20 years ago. 


During the course of the year during services we read the whole of the Torah, portion by portion, week by week, starting in Sept/Oct. Some synagogues only read a part of the week's portion, but even there I read the whole portion. And this, being my Year of 100 Books, if I missed a week for whatever reason (it happens!), I made sure to read that week's portion later. (Even tho we are about half way thru the Torah now, I will close the Year with this Book since it was at this point I started to be diligent about reading it.)


This year I even gave a (fairly simplistic) d'var (teaching) for the first time, for the portion of Toldot, the birth of Esau and Jacob. I took a literary angle, bringing up the various forms of prolepsis (foreshadowing) that happens in this portion, which frankly isn't hard for any part of Genesis. 

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Shane Matlock
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Posted: 01 May 2013 at 3:27am | IP Logged | 4 post reply

Every Love Story is a Ghost Story: A Life of David Foster Wallace by DT Max. Really great biography. I was more a fan of DFW's essays than his fiction.
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Rob Shalda
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Posted: 01 May 2013 at 11:55am | IP Logged | 5 post reply

NOS4A2 by Joe Hill(Stephen King's Son). Just picked this up yesterday and could not put it down. So much like his dad's early works while still being original. I would recommend this to any fan of Kings. His best work yet.

Edited by Rob Shalda on 01 May 2013 at 11:56am
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Mark Haslett
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Posted: 01 May 2013 at 4:32pm | IP Logged | 6 post reply

"Hornblower and the Hotspur" C.S. Forester

Fantastic. Never read Hornblower before, but often heard it mentioned in reference to Star Trek.

It is instantly a new obsession and I am on to the next, which, oddly, was Forester's last (and unfinished) because he chronicled Hornblower's life out of order. Can't wait.
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Shane Matlock
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Posted: 01 May 2013 at 11:46pm | IP Logged | 7 post reply

I didn't know Joe Hill had a new book. I have yet to read Horns (I have it on my Kindle app on my phone), but I loved 20th Century Ghosts and Heart-Shaped Box and what I've read of Locke and Key.

 

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John Popa
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Posted: 02 May 2013 at 5:12am | IP Logged | 8 post reply

Just finished "Weaveworld," the one major Clive Barker work I'd never read. I enjoyed it but not as much as some of his other works.  I found the protagonists a bit bland, for one thing.

My copy of "NOS4A2" should be arriving today or tomorrow.  That's next.

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Derek Cavin
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Posted: 04 May 2013 at 6:20am | IP Logged | 9 post reply

The Hunting Season by John Coyne - Upstate New York inbreds like to rape and kill tourists from the City (New York). A good example of why I don't read horror books.
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Thom Price
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Posted: 05 May 2013 at 9:41am | IP Logged | 10 post reply

Taking a crack at reading John Jakes' NORTH AND SOUTH trilogy; I think I last read them when I was in my teens.  I had no expectation of high literature, but the simplicity of the prose is already grating on my nerves.  At times, I feel like I'm reading "See Spot Run".   Combined with Jakes' tendency to breeze through situations makes this feel more like someone summarizing a story rather than an actual novel.  Not sure how much further I'll get.
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Andrew Hess
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Posted: 10 May 2013 at 7:27am | IP Logged | 11 post reply

"Death is a Lonely Business" by Ray Bradbury, read by Peter Berkrot

In 1950s Venice CA, a struggling writer of pulp fiction stumbles across what becomes a series of murders and strange accidents, and, with the help of a police detective and a reclusive actress, he desperately seeks a murderer that leaves no clues.

A decent addition to the genre of "real-life people who solve crime" books, this one has the advantage of being written by the real-life person being featured (tho the main character is never identified by name). It's an homage to Raymond Chandler and life in the 50s, to movies and stories, and (typical of Bradbury) to life in general. I haven't read Bradbury much since I was a teenager, and this has convinced me that I should try some more.
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Derek Cavin
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Posted: 22 May 2013 at 5:41pm | IP Logged | 12 post reply

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
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