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Roadside picnic

"The Russians are coming, the Russians are coming". Whoops! Wrong story. I meant the novel was written by the Russian brothers Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. The aliens are coming, the aliens are coming! Whoops! They left. They were here only for a roadside picnic. Now the scavengers are here picking up all the dangerous debris the aliens left behind. The scavengers are humans making off with booty to sell in the black market. This occupation becomes extremely portentous when the government decides to police the zoned areas affected by the aliens. Did the aliens even notice that we were here? Are they so far advanced that we looked like insects to them? Or did they leave objects behind to gauge our intelligence? That is the big question asked in this sci-fi novel that's been out of print in the U.S.A. for nearly thirty years and only recently translated anew. This is not your typical sci-fi novel as the aliens have left when the story starts. We don't know what they looked like or what their visit's purpose was... if any. We can't even figure out what most of the objects they left behind are used for. This is pure science fiction devoid of any space monsters or irritating technical jargon. The setting of this story is unknown, but presumed to be somewhere in northern Canada.:star5::)
Book Reviews And Comments By Rick O
 
Under This Unbroken Sky by Shandi Mitchell :star4: Brutal,beautiful story about Ukrainians settling in the Canadian wilderness of 1938.
 
Life Sucks by Jessica Abel and Gabe Soria (writers); Warren Pleece (artist).

Basic plot: Dave, a vegetarian vampire and late-night convenience store clerk has some excitement added to his life when a rivalry begins with a rich, spoiled surfer vampire over the affections for Rosa, a young woman who lives the goth life. :star3:
 
Wish for a Drowned Daughter by M'Bilia Meekers. Slender volume of prize-winning poetry of the New Orleanian cultural heritage.
:star4:
 
The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling - :star4:
Really enjoyed her writing style, a far cry from the world of witchcraft and wizardry, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this.
 
BenAuckland said:
The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling - :star4:
Really enjoyed her writing style, a far cry from the world of witchcraft and wizardry, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this.
Click to expand...
Thanks for writing! Good to hear your reaction. :)
My copy is coming in the mail, maybe tomorrow, and now I look forward to it with even more anticipation.
 
Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow. Even though this was one of his young adult novels I found myself thoroughly gripped and quite unnerved by the story. Supposedly set in the near future, nearly all the technology and techniques are about today.

Marcus and his friends are out playing a computer based alternate reality game when terrorists strike nearby, and get caught up in the Department of Homeland Security's sweep. Tortured for several days and sworn to silence by the DHS, Marcus vows to get even and creates an underground network via his hacked Xbox.

The sequel, Homeland, is due out Feb '13.
 
I recently finished Markus Zusak ''The book thief''. :star5:

It's a book about girl Liesel, who lives in Nazis Germany, during the second world war. She arrives to the home of her foster parents. At the time when she was arriving died her younger brother and now she has nightmeres every night. But foster father helps her, then she makes some friends.
Later the family is hiding a Jewish man and the war starts.
All in all, I like this book, because it's written from perspective of Death. It tells a whole story and different aspects of death.
 
Betrayal of Trust by J.A. Jance. Typical fare for the series, though this is only the third one I've listened to. Narrator does a good job with it. 4/5 stars.
 
Twelve Patients, Life and Death at Bellevue Hospital by Eric Manheimer, MD
Whoa. Real life at one of the nations most varied and busy, stuffed to the gills hospital. Manheimer has created a slice of life that touches on the international, and political aspect of all patients admitted to the hospital. Fascinating. Scary. Beautiful. Heart wrenching. Sobering. :star5:
 
The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas 4/5

A fascinating examination of what happens when a non-relative grown male slaps a four year old child that is badly misbehaving at a summer barbecue and not being disciplined at all by his parents that are observing the bad behavior. The familial relationships and the long standing friendships between the party goers is thoroughly tested and explored. By the end of the book, we have the full picture of why they are the way they are, and why their reactions are so passionately varied.

Well written. Thought provoking. Harsh. Probably offensive to some, in that the author pulls no punches with regard to the hot buttons of society today. Abuse, as in child and spousal. Drug use. Teen sex. Abortion. Homosexuality. Foul language and racist remarks are casually and liberally scattered throughout.

I was only bothered a few times by the male author's point of view for a couple of the female characters. I felt he didn't portray the inner anguishes of them as deeply or realistically as needed. A little too much was glossed over. Some were right on target though, so I'd call that a bit of hit and miss. I loved the ethnicities that were highlighted, the diversity of Australians was, I thought, well done.
 
The New Laurel Book Review - Anthology Volume XXV. All contents related to railroads.

Short stories and poems,
Some better, some
Worse than my own.
But they are published,
And none of my own.
So,
What do I know?

:star3:
 
Pig Iron by Benjamin Myers :star4: Set in County Durham in North-East England in 1999. This tells the story of John-John,a young traveller recently released from prison who's determined to go straight,and also his back-story which features his Dad,Mac,a bare-knuckle fighting champion. Very strong language throughout,and told in the local dialect,it's both gritty and gripping and includes some startling descriptive writing too.
 
Grant's final victory

This is the seventh non-fiction book that I've read concerning U.S. presidents in the last year and it ranks right up there with books about Presidents' Garfield, Cleveland, Mckinley, T. Roosevelt and FDR. Author Charles Bracelen Flood penned equally as well as his fellow historians Candice Millard, Scott Miller, and James Bradley did. In fact this book was so well written that I felt like I was part of General Grant's inner circle. This book is a attention grabber that doesn't let you go and fills the reader with sympathy and admiration for the General and his family during his last year of life.:star5::whistling:
Book Reviews And Comments By Rick O
 
The Lords In The North by Bernard Cornwell :star4:

The 3rd in Cornwell's Saxon Chronicles series,set during Alfred The Great's reign. Another great historical adventure with plenty of bloody battles and political intrigue.
 
Ricko, thank you for letting me know about Grant's Final Victory, by C.B. Flood. I definitely want to read it. have seen documentaries and read books lately about the Civil War that informed about what a fascinating man he was.... so many individuals that eventually prove themselves brilliant in one place and time often flounder before that happens, and Grants seems to be one of those. I also found the fact of when and why he wrote his memoirs interesting... can't wait to read more.
 
To: Maryjo
I believe Grant was a military savant, unfortunately he was too trusting with his staff as president, which caused him many problems. This is a wonderful book. If you like history that seems like fiction read books by Candice Millard such as, ' Destiny of the Republic', it's a solid five star book about the assassination of President Garfield.
Book Reviews And Comments By Rick O
 
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