The Book Munkie

Finished “The Watchman” by Robert Crais. This was a gift from the Boo as his father is a huge fan and it was a deal of the day. I have never heard of this author before, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The Boo thought that this was the very first Crais novel, but he has another series starring Elvis Cole with Joe Pike as a secondary character. In the Joe Pike series, it seems to be the reverse. 

I need to read a little bit more to make this statement I’m sure, but since the books are similar and I’ve only read one of each, I think i like Joe Pike more than Jack Reacher as a tough, laconic, detective with a tragic past. I just found Pike to have a little bit more realness to him, and I liked that he was a vegetarian mercenary. 

I give this a B+. Looking forward to reading more Crais in the future.

17/50

Up next: “Life After Life” by Kate Atkinson

Finished “I, Lucifer” by Glen Duncan last night. This was such a well-written book. Even though it wasn’t very long, I found myself slowing down a bit to make sure that I didn’t miss a detail in Lucifer’s retelling of his fall, and the present accounting of his human experience. 

I feel like if you’re a fan of Supernatural, you’d probably enjoy this book because some of the major player angels and fallen angels in that show, pop up in this novel. I’d be interested to hear if people felt the personalities matched up at all.

I really enjoyed this book, although it did make me a little depressed about how humanity is described. 

Definitely curious to check out some of Duncan’s other works. I give this a solid A. 

16/50

Up next: “The Thieves of Book Row” by Travis McDade

Finished “Seriously…I’m Kidding” last night on the train. What an incredibly fast read. It was like being inside Ellen’s stream of consciousness, which wasn’t terrible but I’m glad that I didn’t pay anything for it. It was really short, and while it was enjoyable I didn’t really feel like I was learning anything or that entertained. It was funny though, as to be expected. She’s a pretty funny person.

Overall, I give this a C+. If she wasn’t famous, with a successful track record, I just don’t see how this book would have been published.

15/50

Up next: “I, Lucifer” by Glen Duncan.

Finished “Fight Club” by Chuck Palahniuk on the ride home last night. The Boo has been asking me to read this for awhile, because it’s one of his favorite reads. I enjoy Chuck’s writing usually, although some I find a bit too much for me to handle, definitely had to quit reading “Pygmy” because it disturbed me too much. But I really enjoyed “Fight Club”, and I wish that I could have read this before I knew about the ending due to the popularity of the movie. But I’d like to think that I would have been surprised by it still, and wouldn’t have been picking up on the subtle hints throughout the story.

While I don’t think this will replace “Invisible Monsters” as my favorite Palahniuk read so far, this is definitely in the top 4. 

I give this a B+.

14/50

Up next: “Seriously, I’m Kidding” by Ellen Degeneres

“Summer Knight” by Jim Butcher is the fourth title in The Dresden Files series. The previous title made me want to continue on with the series, but I think this one endeared me to the series. These books are campy and quite silly at times, but I just really enjoy the story. I find something incredibly enjoyable about reading series, and I haven’t really found one that I’ve loved in awhile. There are some good ones out there, but I haven’t gone through a series with a healthy backlist in quiet some time. 

I’d give this a B+.

Up next: “Fight Club” by Chuck Palahniuk

Finished “Grave Peril” by Jim Butcher last night on the way home. The third novel in The Dresden Files series, I have to say this one definitely got me hooked on the series, and now I have the desire to catch up. I enjoyed the first two novels, but there was just something about this one that really endeared me to Dresden. He’s not a flawless character, and while I don’t completely enjoy the damsels must be saved attitude he has, I enjoy him as a protagonist. 

Since I was underground, and haven’t transferred my previous books to my new Kindle from the archive yet, I started reading the next title in the series since the ebook that I have is a collection of the first six novels in the series.

I give this one an A-. 

12/50

Up next: “Summer Knight” by Jim Butcher

Finished “The Woodcutter” by Kate Danley on Saturday morning. I have to say, I started out really not liking the writing style but it grew on me. 

I still have some issues with the stories, I felt like there was too much action skipped over and then narrated. There were a lot of familar fairy tale creatures, people, and magical things in this story. I just had some issues with the delivery. I think I would have felt differently if I were reading it aloud as a bed time story though.

Possibly this would have been a better audiobook.

I give this a C. 

11/50

Up next: “Grave Peril” by Jim Butcher (Dresden Files #3)

Finished “Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter” by Mario Vargas Llosas on the train this morning. It was a really enjoyable novel. The chapters are split between the main character and the radio serials of the scriptwriter. I found both aspects of the book to be incredibly engrossing. Although for the first few radio serial chapters, I didn’t quite grasp that was what they were and was a bit confused with how they played into the story.

I haven’t read a story that has taken place in Peru before, and now I’ve added Peru to my place I’d like to visit list.

I give this a solid A. Thanks again for the recommendation Psychsquirrel! I don’t know if I ever would have come across this book otherwise.

10/50

Up next: “The Woodcutter” by Kate Danley 

Finished “Horns” by Joe Hill after getting my new Kindle all set up. I have to say, new Kindle is pretty damn awesome. Pages load even faster, and the “ink” is much crisper. 

I’m really sad that when my previous Kindle died, I lost all of the quotes that I highlighted previously while reading “Horns”. There were quite a few in this novel, that I found really enjoyable and wanted to share. 

I enjoyed “Horns” but there were some aspects of the story that I would have liked to have been a little more fleshed out. If you are sensitive to stories involving a sexual assault, you may not want to read this book. 

Hill really portrayed the “nice guy” mentality really well though in one of his characters. This character had so much rage and anger towards women, and was constantly seeing “signs” that one female character in particular was giving him that they were attracted to him. It was very eye-opening and quite alarming to read. It really made me think about how many boys/men out there are beyond angry because they feel like they are entitled to sex. 

I give this a B+. 

9/50

Now reading: “Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter” by Mario Vargas Llosas, as recommend by Psychsquirrel. So far I’m really enjoying it. Thanks for the recommendation!!

“Flashfire” by Richard Stark was just positively delightful to read. The Boo bought this for me as a birthday gift as he had just seen the movie “Parker” which is based on the story in the Parker series. 

I don’t really know how to describe how awesome this book is without giving away any spoilers. If you enjoy heists, dry wit, and great writing give this a shot. 

Plus, it was an incredibly fast read. I have a feeling I’ll be picking up a few more of the Parker novels in the future. 

8/50

Up next: “Horns” by Joe Hill