Books Read 2002 - some spoilers

1.The ten thousand : a novel of ancient Greece by Michael Curtis Ford. (a yawner when compared to Gates of Fire)

2.Bums by Peter Glockenbock

3 Lost Soldiers by James Webb

4 The Eye of The World by Robert Jordan (as seen by the next 8 entries, I’m hooked!)

5 The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan

6 The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan

7 The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan (best of the bunch)

8 The Fires of Heaven: by Robert Jordan

9 Lord of Chaos: by Robert Jordan

10 A Crown of Swords: by Robert Jordan

11 The Path of Daggers: by Robert Jordan

12 Winter’s Heart by Robert Jordan

13 Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden (excellent!)

14 Gallow’s Thief by Bernard Cornwell

15 Little Grandpa by Dan Slapczynski

16 Old Polish Legends by F.C. Anstruther

17 City of Bones by Michael Connelly

18Warning of War by James Brady (so-so. pretty weak and predictable)

19 The Marines of Autumn by James Brady (poetic and tragic, yet horribly pro-Marine, anti-GI; yet another reminder that an author sometimes intrudes on his own work)

20 American Empire: The Center Cannot Hold by Harry Turtledove

21 Jolie Blon’s Bounce by James Lee Burke (scary. What a great bad guy!)

22 Sharpe’s Company by Bernard Cornwell

23 The Moment She was Gone by Evan Hunter (excellent. It really hit home and I’ve passed the book along to others)

24 Bad Boy Brawly Brown by Walter Mosley

25 Sharpe’s Sword by Bernard Cornwell

26 Acid Row by Minette Walters (very good book. I may have found a female author worth reading)

27 To Catch a Spy by Stuart Kaminsky (Cary Grant vs the Nazis. Fun book)

28 Mortal Prey by John Sandford (where’s the terror that made the series so powerful?)

29 Code Sixty-One by Donald Harstad (a nice, quirky change of pace)

30 The Shape of Snakes by Minette Walters (yup, a female author worth reading)

31 Twice Dying Neil Mchmahon (ok)

32 The Echo by Minette Walters

33 Eleven Days by Donald Harstad (his first, and so far the best, book)

34.American Gods by Neil Gaiman (winner of the Bram Stoker Award for best novel of 2001; a fine read, even if I lost interest in the home stretch)

35 The Fifth Sorceress by Robert Newcomb (plain jane style, decent story. Enjoyable)

36 Known Dead by Donald Harstad (the 2nd of the series; much more relaxed and readable than the first in the series or the newest one. Wonder if deadline pressure caused him to slip backwards with Code-Sixty-One?)

37 Blood Double by Neil McMahon (goofy plot about DNA and evil corporations. I can’t really see a genuine reason for the protagonist to get involved, but heck, what do I know? Still a decent read.)

38 Hardfreeze by Dan Simmons (deliciously violent and unrepentant. Much better than the first in the series! It also features a discussion dissing the recent Spenser novels. A blast.)

39 Street Boys by Lorenzo Carcaterra (awful. What a fall from grace from his last work. Not only is the plot predictable and amateurish [the German soldier has the hero at his mercy, yet chooses to brag about it before the kill – and suddenly, the hero is saved from a shot out of nowhere! – about a dozen times]. Italy is also given a free pass in WWII [ah, sure we sided with Hitler at first. But, uh, now we don’t], and every German is a Nazi. Geesh. If it wasn’t the only book I had over Labor Day, I’d have dropped it like a block of cement.)

40 Why We Fight: Moral Clarity and the War on Terrorism by William J. Bennett (a solid and well written thesis arguing for continued American action in response to 911. I agreed with most of his thoughts, but felt many to be too obvious to deserve a detailed discussion. Because of that, some parts failed to catch my interest).

41.Dads and Daughters: How to Inspire, Understand, and Support your Daughter when she’s growing up so fast by Joe Kelly (a pretty good book dealing with a variety of issues in a girls life. Some of it is gobbldy-gook, but most of it is very valuable)

42. Among the Heroes: United Flight 93 and the Passengers and Crew who Fought Back by Jere Longman (the heroic and inspiring story of the only American’s who struck back on 9-11)

43 The Walkaway by Scott Phillips (a funny and effective mystery. A joy to read.)
44 The Collection by Bentley Little

45 The Revelation by Bentley Little

46 Shrink Rap by Robert B. Parker (good read, as expected, but Parker needs to see a shrink of his own to get over his obsession with both psychiatriy and homosexuality. Everyone in his latest books is either gay, screwy, or both)

47 From a Buick 8 by Stephen King (may be wrong, but didn’t see much of a plot here)
48 The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty (every bit as terrifying – if not more so- than the movie. And I very much like Blatty’s style).

49 BFI Modern Classics: The Exorcist by Mark Kermode (a British critique of the film)

50 The Ninth Configuration by William Peter Blatty (not a very good book, and short to boot)

51 Legion by William Peter Blatty (a sequel of sorts to the Exorcist. Mainly a mystery with long discussions of philosophy thrown in. Still a good read though.)

52 The Stand by Stephen King (very good – very long – book)

53 The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger by Stephen King (I suppose its deeply metaphorical. Or boring. Depends on your outlook).

54 The Shining by Stephen King (deeply unsettling. Not a book to read while working night audit at a hotel)

55 Gerald’s Game by Stephen King (very good. An excellent example of how to say ‘no’ to your characters)

56 The Green Mile by Stephen King (a very enjoyable, very good book)

57 Bag of Bones by Stephen King (ok – it started out very strong and then took a crap. King was a child of the sixties, and sometimes the sensibilities of the time overwhelm his work. Aside from turning the departed wife into a saint (when you were at first made to believe she was having an affair) he makes the whole thing into a statement on race. Which is fine, but having read several of his books in a short time, I see a pattern. He paints every African-American as someone put-upon and abused at the hands of the redneck majority. This is certainly true in some cases, and it was pertinent in The Green Mile, but here???? What happened to Sara Tidwell was atrocious and disgusting. That said, I REFUSE to justify a century of child murder OR see her as anything but a damned soul - both the opposite of what King seems to portray. Children are innocent. For her to take her revenge on them is as wrong as the crime that killed her. In whole, a mediocre work)

58 Vagabond by Bernard Cornwell. (A sequel to Archer’s Tale. A very engaging novel of the Hundred Years War)

59 Fat Ollie’s Book by Ed McBain (wonderful! As expected a sharp, witty book that dances with the grace of Astaire. Full of snide little jibes at his own legacy, his fictional creation – and even his world famous disclaimer! Plus Fat Ollie finally gets a shot at center stage. What a joy!)

60 Under the Eagle by Steve Scarrow (a Sharpe-like adventure of the Roman invasion of Britain. The author has potential, but he’s still rough around the edges. And lay off the British slang, eh? How many times did a centurian yell “Bloody Bastards!”