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So, why should you care what I'm reading? Or my opinion of it? Well, you probably shouldn't, but it's my site, so I get to do what I want. (A little power is a dangerous thing.)
Read on if you dare. One ring is dreck, five rings is blinding brilliance. Reviews are listed most recent first. When the page gets so long it's boring, I start deleting the reviews at the bottom.
If you'd rather just see what my ten favorite books are, click here.
06/20/07
The Possession of Joel Delaney, Ramona Stewart.  .
Horror/suspense. I don't usually read this kind of thing cos I find it all so hokey, but this was actually better than I thought it was going to be. Spooky but not gross.
01/15/07
The Dream Master, Roger Zelazny. .
I've owned this novel for years but never got around to reading it because I figured I wouldn't understand it. I was right. Still love Zelazny's prose, tho. Interestingly, there's a new movie out that seems to have the same plot. Wanna bet Zelazny gets no credit?
11/29/06
The Gods Themselves, Isaac Asimov. .
"Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain." That and identifying this as a sci fi novel tells you what you need to know about the plot. I've never been a great fan of Asimov's, I guess it has to do with his competent but rather lifeless prose. But the alien creatures found herein were better realized than most. Love the title. (But the cover art is dreadful. These things matter! :-)
11/09/06
Greyfax Grimwald, Niel Hancock. Either a  or a  , I can't decide.
If I'd never read "Lord of the Rings" I suspect I would've appreciated this book far more. Or else loathed it completely. It is so obviously derivative of LOTR in many points, and yet -- it is uniquely charming on many others. The writing style drove me crazy, for the life of me I couldn't figure out whether the author is imaginatively poetic, or simply doesn't know basic rules of grammar. Also the pacing was weird. It is, of course, part one of a series, but unlike most "serial" fantasy, the first book actually serves the story. (In contrast, "Pawn of Prophecy", below, serves to fill out the required number of pages). I'm really into this story, but I also want to take the red pen to every page. Aaarrgghh!
10/22/06
The Book of Atrix Wolfe, Patricia McKillip
Not her best effort, although anything by McKillip is worth reading if you like fantasy. As always, the real fun is in watching her play with words. But she must have hungry when she was writing this; far too much space is allotted to listing the food being served to the characters. Snore.
10/08/06
The Jesus Incident, Frank Herbert and Bill Ransom.
When I showed an acquaintance what I was reading, he remarked that a lot of this kind of thing is being published these days. However, this isn't quite what it sounds like (as any self-respecting sci fi fan would know :-) -- and anyway, it was written back in the 70's-80's. Or maybe it is what it sounds like, since I admit I didn't really understand the ending. Come to think of it, there was a rather apocalyptic bent to the plot... Never mind, it's brilliantly written.
09/12/06
Pawn of Prophecy, David Eddings.
Book One of who knows how many. Perfectly acceptable but uninspired fantasy. Rather suspect I could skip to the last book in the series and not miss a thing.
08/18/06
Songs of Earth and Power, Greg Bear. 
Sort of a mish-mosh of Roger Zelazny and, oh, Lloyd Alexander, sans the fun. I hate to rate this so low, as I am an admirer of Bear's prose. But this is an immature effort (written, if I recall correctly, when he was still a teenager), and the world "sub-created" here isn't very coherent. (No pun intended, although if you haven't read the book there's no pun to get. :-)
06/17/06
Tiger by the Tail, Alan E. Nourse.
Clever but dated sci-fi short stories. Fun for old fogeys like me, but I can't imagine the computer generation putting up with its hokey science. Picked it up cos Nourse wrote one of my all time favorite YA sci-fi novels, which I no longer, alas, remember the title of.
06/01/06
Animal Dreams, Barbara Kingsolver. 
At first I was afraid this novel was headed for the "how men ruined my life" swamp, but at the risk of giving away the ending, it turned out to be something much more life affirming. Both sad and funny, easy to read without being simplistic, and in all, very pleasurable.
04/07/06
Angels in Heaven, David M. Pierce.
If you went by the titles, you'd think I'd recently got religion or something. But actually this novel is a parody of hard-boiled detective fiction, and I rather enjoyed its cheekiness. Beyond that it doesn't have a great deal to offer, but it's a good light read.
My Ten Favorites (subject to change on a whim)
Both Dickens and Steinbeck should be here, but my deep prejudice against "important fiction," engendered in me by years of required reading in school, was just too much for me to overcome, and lesser lights made the cut instead. I'll keep trying.
The really depressing part of this list is realizing that the most recent book on it is over 30 years old.
; And book number one is ... (drum roll, please ...)
- Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien. (Duhhh.) Only one thing mars this heart-thumping epic, and Professor Tolkien pointed it out himself -- it's too short.
- Shane, Jack Schaefer. The first "grown-up" book I ever read, and I've never forgotten it. My later notions of how a great story is written started here.
- To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee. Thematically rich, satisfyingly complex, well-written. Probably the "best" book on this list.
- The Ramayana, retold by William Buck. Amazing stuff. When I read it, I finally understood where Lord of the Rings had come from. I have no idea if Tolkien ever even heard of it, but he clearly drew from the same well. Sometimes humankind just stuns me.
- Dune, Frank Herbert. Complex and imaginative. Alas, the zillion sequels that followed savagely deconstructed everything wrought in the original; please don't read past the first one.
- Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny. Quirky, clever, rough, tough, outrageous, serious, funny ... Zelazny's prose hits you from so many directions you don't know which way is up, but it sure is a fun ride. Not as over-the-top as the Amber Chronicles, but a lot deeper at the bottom. My dad used to require this in his Far Eastern Religion classes.
- Watership Down, Richard Adams. The other great English "fantasy" novel. Seems episodic at first, but the narrative tide eventually sweeps you away.
- The Family of Man, Museum of Modern Art, from the photographic exhibition created by Edward Steichen. 503 photographs from around the world, and a prime example of how the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts. I remember spending hours poring over this volume when I was child, feeling in turns amused, bemused or outright mystified. I was thrilled to find, after landing a copy in the used book store, that the same feelings are still evoked.
- The Man Who Was Magic, Paul Gallico. A little-known novel, extolling the virtue of a sense of wonder.
- Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams. How could I have forgotten about this book (and it's equally zany/fun/mind-bending sequels)? Should've been on the list all along. And no, the movie does not do it justice.
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