Started 9/20/2010 Finished a few days later. Damn you Dan Brown…you’re such an engrossing writer! Very rarely do books suck me in until 3am like this….but Dan Brown pulls it off with panache. I very much enjoyed this book and can’t wait to not-sleep through his earlier works (I’ve only read this and Da Vinci Code). Pg. 86: In the words of futurist Arthur C. Clarke, ‘Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.’ I wonder if this was ever quoted concerning the Flash Rogue, Abra Kadabra, from the 64th century? Pg. 104: Peter Solomon would be horrified to know how badly Langdon had failed him. I should have mailed it to the Marx Brothers. Will you take it easy? Take it easy? Why do you think I sent it home in the first place?! So that it wouldn’t fall into their hands! I came here to save you! Oh … Continue reading →

Started 1/3/2010 Finished 8/31/2010 A fascinating analysis of one of the most contentious presidents to ever be in power during the still-formative years of our nation. I love Andrew Jackson mostly from his appearances on Disney’s Davy Crockett TV show, but this book made me appreciate the $20 bill that much more for all the pain and suffering he went through. First President to have an assassination attempt (I think)…and the Secret Service STILL wasn’t created…yeesh….

A delightful sequel from one of my favorite authors (I have all of the Artemis Fowl books except for the newest ones and absolutely love reading them). Started 9/1/2010 Finished 9/19/2010 Pg. 191: There is a theory … which states that the universe is built on uncertainty and that a definitive statement/action creates a momentary energy vacuum into which flows a diametrically opposing statement/action. Pg. 225: Most [space]craft give a nod, however brief and unfriendly, toward beauty. Vogon ships did not nod toward beauty. They pulled on ski masks and mugged beauty in a dark alley. They spat in the eye of beauty and bludgeoned their way through the notions of aesthetics and aerodynamics. Pg. 241: Thor was actually the fifth-fastest being in the Universe. Eight without Mjöllnir to steady him. Number one was Hermes, who mainly used his divine speed to pinch Ares’ nipples and then run away.

Slow start, then it starts building to a fever pitch… The deluxe edition of the version that I read included the author’s original epilogue, an article she wrote several years later about the house that inspired this novel, and a note from the author that planted a theory in my head. See, the author started writing the book and got two chapters done…but then she put it away for a few months or something and then started writing it again when she felt she “had a better grip on the story”. My theory is that this leads to a kind of disjointedness in the first part of the book that made it very difficult to read…took me almost 6 months to finish it! But I’m definitely glad I read the book…it is a timeless romance/horror and I can’t wait to check out the Hitchcock adaptation (although I suspect it may … Continue reading →

My God! Joel Rosenberg is absolutely incredible. His books and characters suck you in and thrash you until you don’t have any life left in you to read and then you keep reading. Because you have to know what happens. What I really enjoy is that his series of books is basically Tom Clancy crossed with The Left Behind series. The geopolitical consequences of the end times is absolutely fascinating and incredibly gripping…especially when his novels seem to foretell the future (his first novel, written before 9/11, depicts an attempted presidential assassination via hijacked airplane and his second novel predicted the assassination/death of Yasser Arafat).

Having seen the paths of all the other original characters through the “Wicked” lens, Maguire now focuses his lens on The Cowardly Lion formally known as Brrr in order to re-examine the life and time of Elphaba and her descendants. Having already revolutionized him as a fop having his curls twirled by Nick Chopper the Tin Woodsman, Maguire now takes us through the life of Brr after he escaped from captivity as he wanders through life just trying to get by and always being discouraged. As always, a delightful incursion into fancy and an interesting twist in silver shoes.

Just as brilliant as last time, Newt Gingrich and William Forstchen continue to draw us in to their active history to analyze great military commanders and the men they commanded. Picking up where Pearl Harbor left off (with General Yamamoto ordering a catastrophic third strike on Pearl Harbor that decimates the dry dock), we see a battle of wits between Admiral Halsey and Yamamoto as they try to find each other andend the war.