My reading pace has come to a nearly complete stop over the past few weeks. That’s a shame, because I’m pretty sure I was on pace to have my best reading year ever. George Brett didn’t hit .400 the entire summer of 1980, so I guess I was due for a slump. Manhattan Beach – Jennifer Egan. I read this…

The City of Mirrors – Justin Cronin This was my spring break book, the final in Cronin’s super virus/vampire trilogy. In this book, thought it took him a long time to get going, offering a lot of background in the first half or so. Some of the background, that which centered on the life of Tim Fanning and how he…

The Kremlin’s Candidate – Jason Matthews Interesting timing, with this coming out right around the same time as the movie adaptation of Red Sparrow, the first book in the trilogy it completes. Matthews has been lauded by folks who know a lot more than me as an author who can combine good spy novel plot with offering realistic tradecraft, something…

It’s pouring rain outside, I have a sick kid on the couch, so today seems like a good day to get caught up on books. Round Ireland with a Fridge – Tony Hawks. This was a timely read, found at the library on a shelf of books pulled in advance of the St. Patrick’s Day holiday. It is exactly what…

My torrid pace of reading in 2018 continues. I knocked out two more books in the Y: The Last Man comic series and am still enjoying it. And I’m still working through Nick Hornby’s Ten Years in the Tub. And then I knocked out a few other books over the past couple weeks. End of Watch – Stephen King “End…

I have a few more books to share, but this time I will do something a little different: write about a book I have not finished yet. I looked into the site’s archives and couldn’t find a direct reference, but I’m pretty sure one of the reasons I started writing about the books I read here is because of the…

A couple very different books completed over the past week. Blue Highways: A Journey Into America – William Least Heat Moon I came across this in an odd way. In Nick Offerman’s Paddle Your Own Canoe, the actor/comedian/writer mentioned this book as having had a large influence on his life. He offered a blurb that it was about traveling across…

Two more notches on my 2018 reading belt. Mrs Fletcher – Tom Perrotta Perrotta’s books all feel similar. They often center on sex, although none of them can be described as salacious, and the problems that sex causes in our lives. There is usually a strong element of nostalgia, where one or more major character wants desperately to turn back…

Two books down already for 2018. Dreaming the Beatles: The Love Story of One Band and the Whole World – Rob Sheffield Oh no, another book about the Beatles?!?! That was my first thought when I saw that music critic Sheffield was releasing his take on the Beatles last year. My initial plan was to skip it even though I…

Again I’ve fallen behind on my book sharing. Here are my final four books of 2017.[1] I’ve already polished off one book for 2018 and will get to it next week. Fantasyland – Kurt Andersean I’ve mostly avoided the quick, “How Did We Get Here?” assessments of our current political state. They tend to be too depressing and infuriating for…