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Sarah Waters - The Little Stranger :star4:

A very atmospheric tale set at a crumbling manor in Warwickshire shortly after World War II. Strange things have begun to happen to the three remaining members of the owner's family - peculiar sounds at night, inexplicable marks on the walls, funny "accidents". One could almost think the house was haunted. All those goings-on put an enormous strain on the inhabitants of Hundreds Hall, and soon the family is coming apart at the seams.

I thoroughly enjoyed this, it's the perfect read for a few winter's nights. Only disappointment was the ending, which was way too vague for my taste and left too many questions open.
 
Slow apocalypse

One of my favorite writers, John Varley, writes a “been there, done that” book. What I mean is that there are only so many ways you can pen a apocalypse/survival novel. Is this novel similar to William R. Forstchen’s 'One Second After' and Cormac McCarthy’s 'The Road' ? You betcha! After the disaster, do refugees flee the big cities? Yes! Do people run amok seeking food and shelter? Yes! Do we have a societal breakdown with gangs pillaging the land? Yes! Finally, does the reader follow a group of people who become the champions of the story? You bet your sweet bippy! So you might ask, “What’s different?" Well how about adding a 9.3 to 9.8 magnitude earthquake in the Los Angeles area, and top that off with a massive fire a few days later. Look, I’m not saying that I didn’t like the book, but writers are running out of ways to tell this story. This is the tenth novel that I’ve read by this author, so I think I’ve earned my say. John, stay away from these kind of stories! If you want to write another, then ape Michael Crichton’s 'The Andromeda Strain'. At least in that novel, the focus was on the cure of the problem (the strain mutates to a benign form with a final surprise). I’ll give the author a pass, because the writing was terrific, and the characterization was top-notch.:):star4:
http://ricksreviews.blogspot.com
 
The plum tree

Ellen Marie Wiseman’s riveting debut novel allows the reader to peer into the life of a German teenager and her family in World War II torn Nazi Germany. The author states that the book was inspired by her own mother’s actual experiences in Germany, and by the author’s numerous trips to the Fatherland visiting relatives. This is a dynamite novel about a German girl falling in love with a Jew. The novel reveals three engrossing forms of terror during the years 1938 through 1945. The first was the ravaging of the Jews and ordinary German citizens by the SS Troopers. One of the books Wiseman read pertaining to this was" Frauen: German Women Recall the Third Reich" by Alison Owings. The second torment experienced by the German families was the U.S. bombing campaign of German cities, backed up by the book" The Fire: The Bombing of Germany, 1940-1945" by Jorg Friedrich. The third affliction in the story discloses how the non-Nazi German civilians were treated after the war’s end. This was verified by James Bacque’s "Crimes and Mercies: The Fate of German Civilians Under Allied Occupation, 1944-1950" . This was an eye-opening trifecta of maladies combined in one novel. This reviewer wonders what Wiseman will do for an encore?:)5 stars!
http:/ricksreviews.blogspot.com
 
Alan Sepinwall, The Revolution Was Televised: The Cops, Crooks, Slingers and Slayers Who Changed TV Drama Forever :star4:
 
Dangerous Instincts (use an FBI profiler's tactics to avoid unsafe situations) by Mary Ellen O'Toole, Ph.D, and Alisa Bowman 3.5/5

Lots of common sense and many out takes of her 30-odd years with the FBI. She outlines real situations and what our reactions to them should be.

Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard 4/5

Millard's detailed description of President James Garfield's assassination and it's medical aftermath proves that the more things change, the more they remain the same.
 
Enslaved By Ducks, Bob Tarte :star3:
Not as funny as promised, although it had a few moments. There are other pet books out there that are much better, i.e. Marley and Me
 
Billy Flynn's Long Halftime Walk - Ben Fountain :star5:

The entire story takes place on Thanksgiving day at a Dallas Cowboys football game at Texas Stadium. Billy Lynn is now a seasoned combat veteran, recipient of the Silver Star, nominated for the Congressional Medal of Honor, and a certified American hero. He has killed for his country and watched his closest friends die. He is also 19 years old, and still a virgin.
Fountain tells the story through the thoughts and actions of Billy, and through the antics of his brother warriors, a group of U.S. soldiers who, with an embedded Fox News camera crew were captured on video behaving in heroic fashion in a firefight in Iraq. They are subsequently (and incorrectly) dubbed "Bravo Squad" by the media, stop-lossed, and sent on a whirlwind PR tour of the United States, culminating in their participation in the halftime show at Texas Stadium (along with Destiny's Child), after which they are set to return to the hellish place they have just left and finish their tour.
Quite honestly this was one of the best books I have read in recent memory. Fountain's writing is nothing short of amazing. STRONGLY recommended.
 
Track of the Cat Book 1 in the Anna Pigeon series, by Nevada Barr. 3.5/5 stars. Decent, but there are better Anna Pigeon stories later in the series.
 
@hedwig
It came as a recommendation, and after reading it I googled the author and found out it was a finalist for the National Book Award last year. There is a lot more going on in the story : A lucrative movie deal for the Bravo's story is dying, Billy's recollections of his friend that died in the firefight, an anti-war group is cajoling Billy to go awol rather than go back to Iraq, the mutually magnetic attraction between Billy and a beautiful Cowboys cheerleader. Plus you have a group of young combat soldiers (many with PTSD) on the loose at an NFL football game. There are many humorous and poignant moments, but fountain masterfully keeps everything moving and manages to produce something that is very readable, literary, and thought provoking.
 
The dog stars

This novel by Peter Heller has more of a survival/adventure flavor then the taste of another apocalyptic novel. There have been many plague driven post-apocalyptic novels written, going back to 1826 when 'Frankenstein' famed author Mary Shelley wrote 'The Last Man' , a story of a plague destroying mankind in the year 2100! How about another famed author, Jack London, publishing 'The Scarlet Plague' in 1912. In 1954 Algis Budrys wrote 'Some Will Not Die' , a plague story centered in Manhattan. Peter Heller’s novel is somehow different. I know that it is minor, but in this book the population is dying from a super flu. Since the story takes place about 25 years from now, the world is also experiencing the effects of global warming. The waters are warmer ( trout have died off ), the rivers are receding and droughts are more prevalent. All of the calamities are handled very subtlety. The author only hints how all the events happened, instead he concentrates on the survival of the four main characters, and a dog named Jasper. The cause of the flu isn’t even mentioned until page 253, when Cima ( a doctor ) theorizes “Mutation of a superbug, one of the ones they’d been watching for two decades. In the water supply etc. Combined with bird flu. We called it the Africanized bird flu, after the killer bees.”The global warming is hardly mentioned except when the reader finds out elk, tigers and elephants are apparently gone due to the change in the weather.:):star4:
Book Reviews And Comments By Rick O
 
Back to Blood - Tom Wolfe :star2:

Could not get into this. I gave it the old college try, but Wolfe's style ANNOYS the heck out of me. It is filled with sound effects and repetitive exclamatory thoughts that are distracting and add nada to the story. Some of the characters had potential so I kept at it, but ultimately had to set it aside. Life is too short.
It's disappointing because I have always heard that Wolfe is a great author. Maybe I should have started with one of his other books.
 
Hit Me by Lawrence Block 4/5
Another in Block's Keller series. Keller the laconic hit man has to go to work again. Somewhat reluctantly, but what the heck? It's a living, and in these difficult economic times, a guy has to do what he is good at.

Invisible by Paul Auster 4/5
Not one, but two unreliable narrators make this time/shape shifting story an interesting character study. Is anyone telling the truth here?

Borrowed Time by Robert Goddard 4/5
Convoluted murder mystery spanning 3 years. It's never what you think it is. I'd not read any Goddard before, but will certainly read more.
 
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