Velocity by Dean Koontz

Rating: 4.0

Velocity is a cat-and-mouse type of suspense story. There's really nothing exceptional about it but it definitely kept my interest nonetheless.

Billy Wiles finds the first of several mysterious notes on his windshield after leaving his bar tending job one day. It says 'If you don't take this note to the police and get them involved, I will kill a lovely blond schoolteacher. If you do take this note to the police, I will instead kill an elderly woman active in charity work. You have four hours to decide. The choice is yours.' And so begins a fairly intense story in which Billy has to make some pretty extreme choices. The choices become more difficult as the story progresses. Billy can't go to the police because the killer has planted evidence incriminating him. He has no choice but to play this macabre game in the hopes of turning the tables.

I always enjoy escaping in a Koontz book for a couple of hours. Velocity was no exception. It has a fast paced plot with plenty of room for speculation. I think it could have benefited from a bit more character development, but overall it was a quick, fun read.

The Terror by Dan Simmons

Rating: 5.0

The Terror is a pretty engrossing story. It's quite lengthy but it really held my attention.

Two ships set sail, Erebus and Terror, in 1846 in search of the fabled Northwest Passage. The ships end up getting frozen in the ice far from any civilization. After a couple of years scurvy sets in, their food supply becomes poisoned, and a huge beast that seems otherworldly is stalking them. They end up hiking it across the ice in search of open water as the beast continues shadowing them. Many die either from the cold, scurvy, poisoned food, the beast or each other.

The Terror is a very dismal story. The mens situation leaves little to celebrate. The landscape is pretty bleak as well. Simmons did an excellent job at really making the reader feel the -60 degree weather and hear the ice popping and snapping all around. The scene is set wonderfully in The Terror. The environment is a perfect one for the creepy beast that claws at their ship to get in and dismembers sailors at every turn. I loved the historical fiction aspect of this novel mixed with the horror. It really kept the book gripping and the reader on their toes just waiting to see what would happen next. So, if you aren't intimidated by the over 900 pages and you feel in the mood for an atmospheric thriller, I would totally recommend The Terror. But beware of cannibals.

The Washington Post says: "Dan Simmons's new novel, The Terror, dives headlong into the frozen waters of the Franklin mystery, mixing historical adventure with gothic horror -- a sort of Patrick O'Brian meets Edgar Allan Poe against the backdrop of a J.M.W. Turner icescape. Meticulously researched and brilliantly imagined, The Terror won't satisfy historians or even Franklin buffs, but as a literary hybrid, the novel presents a dramatic and mythic argument for how and why Franklin and his men met their demise."

Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse edited by John Joseph Adams

Rating: 4.0

Wastelands is a book containing 22 short stories of life after an apocalypse. The editor did a really good job at picking stories detailing a variety of different world ending scenarios and the struggles of those left to rebuild society and start over.

Some of these stories are just so-so....nothing special or memorable. Others, though, were really great. There are some that take place in the near future and some that take place so far away in time that people aren't even recognizable as people anymore. Some of these stories are very sad and don't show much hope for humanity, while others end on a very optimistic and happy note...a fresh start. "All of them explore one question: What would life be like after the end of the world as we know it?" If you are into the Post-Apocalyptic sub-genre, then this is definitely a book you should check out.

I like what Publisher's Weekly had to say about these stories: "Keynoted by Stephen King's "The End of the Whole Mess," the volume's common denominator is hubris: that tragic human proclivity for placing oneself at the center of the universe, and each story uniquely traces the results. Some highlight human hope, even optimism, like Orson Scott Card's "Salvage" and Tobias Buckell's "Waiting for the Zephyr." Others, like James Van Pelt's "The Last of the O-Forms" and Nancy Kress's "Inertia," treat identity by exploring mutation. Several, like Elizabeth Bear's "And the Deep Blue Sea" and Jack McDevitt's "Never Despair," gauge the height of human striving, while others, like George R.R. Martin's "Dark, Dark Were the Tunnels," Carol Emshwiller's "Killers" and M. Rickert's "Bread and Bombs," plumb the depths of human prejudice, jealousy and fear. Beware of Paolo Bacigalupi's far-future "The People of Sand and Slag," though; that one will break your heart."

A Friend of the Earth by T.C. Boyle

Rating: 3.5

T.C. Boyle certainly has a talent for writing. I love his style but sadly, I didn't enjoy this book nearly as much as some of his other works.

This book alternates between the near future of 2025 and the not too distant past of 30 years ago....and a little bit of the time between. The main character is Ty Tierwater. In the year 2025 he's an older fellow who works for a rich musician. His job is to take care of the musicians menagerie of ugly animals....the animals that nobody else seems to care about. And mammals in the year 2025 are a pretty rare thing. See, there is really no biodiversity left because of global warming, and the earth seems to be on a fast downward spiral. Boyle does not paint a pretty future in this tale. I think it was well researched though and unfortunately seems all too plausible. So this story alternates between this bleak future and Tierwater's past, when he was an eco-terrorist. He broke the law, spent quite a few years in prison, lost his daughter (in more ways than one) and he did it all for the earth and the animals. Was it all in vain? Does he have any regrets? I won't give it away.

I thought this was an interesting tale. It's definitely not a cheerful story....though it does end in a slightly optimistic way. For some reason though (it wasn't the writing) I just didn't really get into this book all that much. Not as much as I thought I would anyway. I'm a big fan of T.C. Boyle so I was expecting to really lose myself in the story. Not so. A Friend of the Earth is sort of intriguing and a decent diversion but I guess I was just expecting better.

I, Lucifer by Glen Duncan

Rating: 4.0

I, Lucifer is positively brimming with wit and irreverent, really irreverent, humor. That's what saved this book when it threatened to get bogged down in one too many digressions. It was amusing even when I was slightly puzzled about what the heck was going on.

This story is told from the perspective of Lucifer, a.k.a. the"Fallen Angel, Prince of Darkness, Bringer of Light, Ruler of Hell, Lord of the Flies....." you get the point. So, 'Luce' gets the opportunity to reenter Heaven with full forgiveness if he can live out a moral life as a human on Earth. I think moral is the key word here. As you can imagine, this is a little difficult for Lucifer. And besides, he's not so sure he even wants to do the whole Heaven thing again anyways. Regardless, he enters the body of one Declan Gunn for this little experiment of walking among us mere mortals and things take off from there. His deviations and ramblings from the plot are more entertaining that the actual plot. Actually, I'm not even sure there is much of a plot. But anyway, amidst the varied digressions are the real story of Adam and Eve, what it was like at the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ (or as Lucifer prefers, Jimmeny Christmas or Junior), and many more trifling anecdotes like what a dog's foot smells like and why the London Underground depresses God. If you are intrigued, want to know the outcome, and are not easily offended, then I suggest reading this narrative.

I, Lucifer is an interesting, if sometimes confusing, read. It's clever, comical and very British. I can't say I loved it, but I did get a kick out it. The end.

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

Rating: 5.0

A Walk in the Woods is my third, and favorite thus far, Bill Bryson book. It is laugh out loud funny as Bryson and his unfit and overweight friend Katz attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail. Sprinkled in between all the hilarious hiking narrative are generous amounts of anecdotes relating to the trail and it's history. As the publisher says, "Bryson's acute eye is a wise witness to this fragile and beautiful trail, and as he tells its fascinating history, he makes a moving plea for the conservation of America's last great wilderness. An adventure, a comedy, a lament, and a celebration, A Walk in the Woods is destined to become a modern classic of travel literature." I am placing this wonderful travelogue in my 'favorite books' category. It's that good.

The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler

Rating: 5.0

I'll confess. I bought this book because of it's amusing title. But I'd read and enjoyed a couple of Mackler's other books so I pretty much knew what to expect. I was not disappointed.

The heroine of this story, 15 year old Virginia Shreves, is overweight and has major self confidence issues. She doesn't fit in with the rest of her family, who are slim and popular over-achievers. Everything changes for Virginia when she learns that her older brother, who she worships, is suspended from Columbia University for doing something pretty horrible. Virginia's earth shatters but she learns a great deal about her family and herself.

This book really comes from the heart. Virginia is a character a girl could really sympathize with. Publisher's Weekly says, ""The heroine’s transformation into someone who finds her own style and speaks her own mind is believable — and worthy of applause." When I read this it was just what I was in the mood for. A nice quick read with a happy ending.