Recent Quick Hits

To start this thing off, I thought that I'd list some Quick Hits of books that I have read recently including some in each category:

A - "And Then We Came to the End" by Joshua Farris. This was a 2007 National Book Award Finalist (Denis Johnson's Vietnam novel, "Tree of Smoke" won). I cannot remember another book that made me laugh out loud. Almost like a crazy episode of "The Office" with funny vignettes and great characters. Also well written, in the royal (and unknown) "we."

B - "Duma Key" by Stephen King. Confession. I love Stephen King. He scared the bejeesus out of me when I was in high school. I haven't read EVERYTHING he's written (I'm no Annie Wilkes), but I've read the vast majority. Some of his books are not great (Pet Sematery, anyone?), but I think that, largely because of his subject matter (oh, the horror), he gets a bad rap in that he's a much better writer then he's given credit for. As he said in "On Writing," (and I'm paraphrasing), sometimes it's enough to "spin a good yarn," and Stephen King does this more often than not and does it well. Duma Key is about friendship and redemption in the context of a physically flawed protagonist who relocates on, wait for it, wait for it, Duma Key. And, there's scary stuff, too. This should absolutely NOT be your first Stephen King book, however.

B - "The Tourist" by Olen Steinhauer. This is a present day spy novel, and what's somewhat rare is that I have recommended this book, and each person who read it on my recommendation liked it more than I did. I found it somewhat formulaic (which is fine, it's a spy novel after all), and I didn't love the ending (it reminded me too much of a movie ending, and I could spoil the book ending if I tell you which movie).

C - "The Doomsday Key" by James Rollins.  This is the latest in the Sigma Force novels written by James Rollins.  Others include "The Last Oracle," "Black Order" and  "The Judas Strain."  In my opinion, "The Doomsday Key" was the weakest of the bunch.  WAY too formulaic.  Unlike the previous books, it seems like Rollins just mailed this one in.  If you've been reading the Sigma Force books, this is the time to either stop or hold your nose, read it and hope that the next one is better.

D - "Without Warning" by John Birmingham. I don't know why I picked this book up. I know less why I suffered through 528 pages. I suppose that, at some point, I figured that I had lost enough time reading the book that I had to finish it. The general premise of the book is that an unexplained natural (i.e. non-terrorist) event takes place in the majority of the US, and the novel explores the economic and political repurcussions of the event. The book is not poorly written, per se. I just could not get invested in premise or the characters. I didn't care about the characters. That's always a problem.

F - "Ravens" by George Dawes Green. Perhaps I didn't give this book a fair shake, but the fact remains that I didn't finish the book. That automatically gives it an F. I'm not a big James Patterson or Harlan Coben fan. I don't like page turners where there is little description and not much of what I'd call "skilled writing." Sure, Green, Patterson and Coben can "spin good yarns," but, as a matter of personal preference, I want more than that. We're too busy to waste our time on something that we thing is not a good read.