books-19aug08.txt Book/author list (updated: 19 Aug. 09) Humor ===== Christopher Moore - funny and quirky stuff * Fluke, or why the winged whale sings * Lamb, the gospel according to Biff, Christ's boyhood pal * The stupidest angel * Coyote Blue * Bloodsucking fiends, a love story * The lust lizard of melancholy cove * The island of the sequined love nun * Dirty Job * Love Sucks * Fool (King Lear from the perspective of the fool) Bill Fitzhugh - funny stuff * Pest Control * The Organ Grinders * Cross Dressing * Fender Benders * Heart Seizure: A Novel * Radio activity (haven't read it yet) Richard Rankin - The hollow chocolate bunnies of the apocolypse Christopher Buckley - heavy satire * Thank you for smoking * Boomsday * No way to treat a first lady Terry Pratchett - Discworld stories * Going postal * Feet of clay * Equal rites * The amazing Maurice and his educated rodents * Thief of time * The Wee Free men / Wintersmith * Thud * Mort * Good Omens (with Neil Gaiman - a light apocalypse tale) Jasper Fforde – Nursery Crimes mysteries * The Big Over Easy * The Fourth Bear Tim Dorsey - Serge Storm, a somewhat bent protagonist along with his stoner sidekick Coleman * Atomic Lobster * Nuclear Jellyfish * The Last Bamboo (Serge heads to California and takes on the film industry) Some of the stories are best read in publication order b/c the characters evolve with time (e.g. the Rostnikov mysteries by Kaminsky or Nevada Barr or Aaron Elkins or Vince Flynn). Mysteries: ========== (set in Netherlands) Albert Baantjer [AU] * Detective Dekok in Amsterdam MURDER IN AMSTERDAM DeKok and the sorrowing tomcat (set in Moscow) Stuart Kaminsky [AU] - Rostnikov mysteries Fall of a cosmonaut Murder on the Trans-Siberian Express The dog who bit a policeman Blood and rubles Hard currency Death of a dissident Black knight in Red Square Death of a Russian priest Rostnikov's vacation Cold Red Dawn (* read in order *) (set in Scotland) MC Beaton [AU] * Hamish MacBeth Scottish highland policeman Death of a poison pen Death of a village Death of a glutton / ... of a witch / ... of a dreamer (set in Edinburgh) Ian Rankin - John Rebus mysteries Strip Jack Black & Blue Resurrection Men Fleshmarket alley (set in Venice) Donna Leon [AU] * Donna Leon - A Commissario Guido Brunetti mysteries in Venice Doctored Evidence Death at La Fenice A Noble Radiance Uniform Justice Acqua Alta (forensic anthropologist) Aaron Elkins [AU] OLD BONES Good Blood Skeleton Dance Twenty Blue Devils Little Tiny Teeth Unnatural Selection (Peter Shandy mysteries) Charlotte MacLeod [AU] Rest You Merry Sharyn McCrumb - Engineering prof turned scifi writer e.g. Zombies of the Gene Pool Greg Rucka - Atticus Kodiak, bodyguard adventures e.g. Smoker, Critical Space, Finder, Keeper Carl Hiaasen - set in Florida, often have environmental bent, populated by goofy characters including a ex-governor now called Skink e.g. Stormy Weather, Lucky You, Skinny Dip, Hoot, Flush Ben Rehder - like Carl Hiaasen but with a Texas drawl Flat Crazy Buck Fever (protagonist is game warden in Brisco Co, TX) Donald Westlake - humorous crime capers Dave Barry - humor columnist writes fun mysteries e.g. Tricky Business (although involves murder, drug smuggling on casino boat) (S. Africe) - Alexander McCall Smith * The Number One Ladies Detective Agency * The Kalahari Typing School for Men (Set in Thailand) John Burdett – Buddhist detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep * Bangkok Eight/ Bangkok Tattoo / Bangkok Haunts (Brother Cadfael) - Ellis Peters * A Morbid Taste for Bones/ One Corpse Too Many David Baldacci - Oliver Stone mysteries + * Camel Club / The Collectors * Last Man Standing * The Whole Truth * Saving Faith * Simple Genius Adventure: ========== Matthew Reilly - great storytelling - over the top * Contest * Ice Station * Temple * Area 7 * Scarecrow * The 6 Sacred Stones Vince Flynn Term Limits (* political intrique+ *) Transfer of Power Separation of Power The Third Option Executive Power Memorial Day Extreme Measures (* read in order *) Judith & Garfield-Stevens Quicksilver Icefire Dale Brown - military adventure * Flight of the Old Dog+ Brad Thor - adventure, secret service agent hero * Lions of Lucerne * Path of the Assassin * State of the Union * The First Commandment * The Last Patriot Stephen Coonts * Saucer - goofy fun adventure tale of saucer found buried in desert * Saucer Conquest - follow up * Liberty - hero - Jake Grafton - spy thriller * America Barry Eisler * Fault Line - black ops specialist protects brother * Hard Rain - John Rain assassin story line * Requiem for an Assassin Jack Coughlin * Kill Zone - protagonist Kyle Swanson, marine sniper Steven Hunter - Bobby Lee Swagger * Point of Impact * Night of Thunder - NASCAR-housed adventure * The 47th Samurai * Black Light Robert Ferrigno - Rakkin * Prayers of the Assassin - alt. world where new world include US Islamic Republic * Sins of the Assassin Andy McNab - Hero - Nick Stone, former SAS agent * Remote Control - other character/story thread * Traitor * Payback Sci-Fiction: ============ David Brin - a (hard science) science fiction writer * Startide Rising * Uplift War * Kiln People * Earth ... Timothy Zahn - great sci-fi (I'm not intersted in his Star Wars stuff but this stuff is good) * Manta's Gift * Angelmass * The Icarus Hunt Orson Scott Card * Ender's game * Ender's shadow * Speaker for the dead * Xenocide * Enchantment Steven Gould – clever series with teleporting as basis * Jumper * Reflex * Jumper: Griffin’s story William Dietz * Death Day/Earthrise * By Blood Alone Larry Niven/Jerry Pournelle – old favorite * Footfall + Ringworld series David Weber * Apocolype Troll * On Basilisk Station (first of the Honor Harrington saga) * Off Armageddon Reef * In Fury Born John Ringo * There will be dragons - future Earth responds to crash of technology * Watch on the Rhine - Posleen-invasion of Earth adventure * Into the looking glass - expt. opens gate to alternative universe Eric Flint * Boundary (alien fossil leads to Mars) * 1632 - start of alternate history series - small W Va town transported to 17th century central Germany * Pyramid Scheme - alien artifact leads to mix of mythical worlds and reality * Rats, Bats and Vats / The Rats, The Bats and The Ugly (with D. Freer) Michael Williamson * Freehold * The Weapon Mark Van Name * One Jump Ahead - protagonist infused with nanomaterials under his control Fantasy ======= Christopher Paolini - great story telling * Eragon (written when the author was a teen!) * Eldest Patrick Rothfuss * The Name of the Wind (new series in 07 – excellent tale) Neil Gaiman - an unsurpassed story teller * The Anansi Boys * American Gods * The Graveyard Book Tom Holt * Little People Youth fiction ============= (I still like these even though I may not be in the target audience) Eoin Colfer - young audience is the target but I enjoyed the stories * Artemis Fowl - 12 yr. old criminal mastermind * The Artic Incident - Artemis Fowl story * The Eternity Code - Artemis Fowl story * The Wish List * The Supernaturalist * The Time Paradox - Artemis Fowl story * Airman Lian Hearn - "feudal Japan on the edge of the imagination" * Across the Nightingale Floor * Grass for His Pillow * Brilliance of the Moon - haven't read yet Andy McNab and Robert Rigby * Traitor / Payback – author is former SAS (see above under “adventure”) David Liss * The Ethical Assassin Rick Riordan * The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson, 1/2 son of Poseidon, adventure)