"Servants of the Map" by Andrea Barrett

On a better note, I'm currently reading a short story and am blown away by it. The writing is superb and the plot is captivating. It is so deep and detailed. I highly recommend it. It so far reminds me of Abigail and John Adams letters to each other.

Review-KILLING FLOOR

Just finished KILLING FLOOR by Lee Child. It started off with a bang. About a hundred pages into it, I was thinking this might be the best book I've ever read. It was filled with action on just about every page, and since it was told in first-person, I felt I was right inside Jack Reacher's head. Child sets Reacher up to be this ex-milliary guy with tons of tactical knowledge, and that part's really cool, but by the end, I was just wanted the book to be over. And by the last twenty pages, I was almost laughing out loud at the lameness.

Reacher has taken on four to five armed guys several times in the book and has just wasted them with relative ease. The final show down is Reacher with two guys, one the chief of detectives with over twenty years of experience against two old men with shotguns. Now, these two guys have hostages, but still, they're in their seventies. And Jack Reacher is nervous? Come on, now.

If it were me who wrote this book, I would have had one of the old men and his son switch places. The son was set up to be this ruthless killer with a crazy streak. It would have been better to have a bigger climax towards the end. I was a little disappointed with this ending, but overall I was really impressed with Lee Child's first novel. I will definitely be reading the next one.

HERO-TYPE

Looks like I'll have to add another book to my reading list. An advance reading copy of HERO-TYPE, Barry Lyga's third book, just came UPS. What a wonderful problem to have- too many books to read.

Book Five-THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES 2001

I got a book I ordered in the mail today. I'll probably start reading that a little at a time. Since I have massive reading ADD, I figured reading short stories every once in a while might help. Besides some of the best writers in the world write in that publication. I might be able to get some tips. I'll, of course, keep you posted.

Book 4- THE MIST

My ADD is setting in again. I started my fourth book before I finished my third, but it's all good. I do it quite often, and like a lot of readers, may have four or five books going on at a time. I started THE MIST by probably my favorite author, Stephen King. The setting for THE MIST is very familiar since it is only about forty minutes from where I live and spend many summer days on the lake Mr. King writes about. King's writing is very different from what I've been reading lately. I've come to realize, word for word, King isn't the best writer. He has a great way of telling the story, but line by line, he lacks substance. Nothing like Michael Chabon.

KILLING FLOOR

I'm only a third of the way through the book, but KILLING FLOOR may be my favorite. Wow, this is good. I highly recommend it. I can't wait to read the rest.

Next Book

Just started the first Reacher novel, KILLING FLOOR. I have a feeling I'm going to like this one. I'm about fifty pages into it and already hooked. Review should be up soon.

THE BOOK OF BOOKS-Book Two-The Review

Sorry about the cheesy photo, but that was all I could find.

THE BOOK OF BOOKS is a book I bought for like a dollar. It's a great little book that lists anywhere between 5 to 15 or books for many different categories. For instance, the authors list their seven favorite hard-boiled detective novels, or their eight favorite short story collections, or their nine favorite Native-American Novels. The best thing about each listing is that a short synopsis is included for each book. Since I own the book, I went through and circled the books I thought I might like to read. I totally recommend this book for reading suggestions, but I think it's pretty hard to find.

TO THE BONE-Book One-The Review

Well, I did it. Got one book down. I was pleased with TO THE BONE. It is a quick, but pleasant read. Not as good as McMahon's latest, QUICK SILVER, but still great. QUICK SILVER was just so flawlessly written, it's hard to compare the two. McMahon has definitely evolved as a writer in the eight years since TO THE BONE has been published. McMahon is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.

The books is basically about a doctor, Carroll Monks, who happens to have a patient die on up under very strange circumstances. Dr. Monks is a magnet for bad luck, thus the four books McMahon wrote about him. I am going to try to read at least one more of these Monks books over the summer. Anyways, Monks does a little digging and finds his patient was recently had breast surgery. The plastic surgeon has a reputation for fixing the rich and famous, but is connected to some strange characters, who Monks pretty much labels as suspects. Classic 'who done it' from there.

I couldn't help but notice McMahon's subtle connections to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. There was a sort of theme to this book where, without going into much detail, Dr. D'aton, the plastic surgeon, was paying a price for making the rich women more beautiful. Kind of like his creation coming back to haunt him.

I suck at this reviewing stuff, which I don't really think anyone will read anyways, which is probably a good thing. On to book two. Should be a quick one.

Sorry about any spelling or grammatical errors. As an English teacher, I should be concerned, but AH, it's the summer.

Neil McMahon and Cats

Neil McMahon must like cats because in the two books I've read by him, TO THE BONE and DEAD SILVER, his protagonists have been cat owners.

"Old Friends" by Thomas McGuane

There's no question I have ADD when it comes to many things, but especially reading. I skip around from story to story. Today, I read a short story called "Old Friends." The story first appeared in THE NEW YORKER, but I read it in The Best American Short Stories 2005. For someone like me, that ADD I talked about before, short stories are great. I read them for a few minutes or an hour and BOOM done. Move on to the next thing. If it's a disappointment, well at least you haven't invested a bunch of time. I don't feel my time was wasted on "Old Friends," but I was a little disappointed. It caused me to think about it for a bit, which is one trademark of a good story, but I wasn't blown away by it. If anyone is looking for a great short story, stay in the same book and read the first one by Tom Bissell called, "The Smile on Happy Chang's Face." Great Stuff.

To The Bone- Book One

The first book I'm going to get through is TO THE BONE by Neil McMahon. I just finished DEAD SILVER by McMahon and loved it, so figured I should try another book by him. I'll post a review of the novel as soon as I'm finished, and if I'm going to read 20 books this summer, I should have the review up soon.

The Plan

I am a school teacher, so this summer I've have a bit more free time to read. I do have two small children, who will take up a good chuck of my time. My goal is to read 20 books over the summer and to keep track of my progress on this blog. I will probably shelf this plan after a week, if I'm lucky, but I thought I'd give it a try. Wish me luck.