Paul's Reading List

Last update: 28 October 2024

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Incoming books | Currently-reading | Finished

Books I've read since about Oct. 1995

Recent acquisitions first, then my current selection(s), then books I've finished, most recent to oldest

Books that deserve special attention have been listed in cyan. If you read something here and enjoy it, or don't, drop me an e-mail. :)

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Inbound queue -- acquired and standing by:

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Currently reading:

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Finished since 1995

Most Recent Books First

  1. James L. Haley, Captain Putnam for the Republic of Texas -- Excellent! And it looks like this series ends here.
  2. Emma Le Teace and Jerome Vincent, Captain Hudson -- A Surprise From the Sea -- very good. Written as a childrens' book by the lady behind the popular "Emma Cruises" channel on YouTube, this is a fun kids' story featuring her famous cat.
  3. Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Wrath of the Triple Goddess -- Excellent! These two books have a lot less at stake than the "normal" books, which is a bit refreshing.
  4. Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Goblet of the Gods -- Excellent!
  5. Rick Riordan, Daughter of the Deep -- excellent! This is apparently a stand-alone novel (!) concerning the heirs of the not-so-fictional Captain Nemo from Jules Verne's books.
  6. C.B. Blackforest, The Last Zephyr -- good to very good. Written by an actual conductor on Amtrak's legendary California Zephyr long-distance train, this is part railroading story, part post-apocalyptic tale, and a story about leadership. The editing and proofing is pretty lousy and there is way too much exposition, but it's a good read.
  7. Barbara Hambly, Prisoner of Midnight -- excellent! And unfortunately, this is where the tales of James Asher and Simon Ysidro end.
  8. Barbara Hambly, Pale Guardian -- excellent!
  9. Barbara Hambly, Darkness In His Bones -- excellent!
  10. Barbara Hambly, The Magistrates of Hell -- Excellent! Set in China, so a major change of venue from the UK and Europe.
  11. Geddy Lee, My Effin' Life -- Outstanding!
  12. David Weber, Toll of Honor -- excellent. The first half concerns "the Three Duels" and the second half Sixth Fleet's increasingly tricky operations after war with Haven was finally declared.
  13. David Weber, To Challenge Heaven -- Excellent! Really hope there are more of these, and soon!
  14. Phillip Jose Farmer, Gods of Riverworld -- very good. These books have great concepts, but I'm sure I'm not the only reader who was disappointed at the complete uselessness of large parts of the plot. Then again, that might have been Farmer's own "dark design."
  15. Phillip Jose Farmer, The Magic Labyrinth -- very good.
  16. Phillip Jose Farmer, The Dark Design -- very good.
  17. Phillip Jose Farmer, Riverworld -- very good to excellent. This contains To Your Scattered Bodies Go and Fabulous Riverboat in one volume. The first novel is excellent, the second good.
  18. David Brin, The River of Time -- excellent! Another great collection of stories.
  19. Storm Constantine (r.i.p.), A Raven Bound With Lillies -- Excellent! Great collection of Wraeththu stories. Bittersweet since Storm passed away in January 2021.
  20. Storm Constantine (r.i.p.), Breathe, My Shadow -- Excellent! There might be some continuity issues here with the city of Ferelithia, but I loved this one. Bittersweet since Storm passed away in January 2021.
  21. Barbara Hambly, Blood Maidens -- excellent! Another great installment in this vampire series.
  22. Phillip Jose Farmer, World of Tiers -- Volume 2 -- very good to excellent. By now we realize that the main character isn't the Lord you thought it was. :) Farmer's style can sometimes be a bit didactic, but these were still quite enjoyable.
  23. Harry Harrison, Stars and Stripes Triumphant -- good to excellent. The victories by the U.S. seem maybe a bit too "pat" and easy, but hey, the title of the book kinda gives it away anyway. :)
  24. Harry Harrison, Stars and Stripes In Peril -- excellent!
  25. Harry Harrison, Stars and Stripes Forever -- excellent! Some of the characters' behavior seemed a little too "pat," but overall this was a great read.
  26. Phillip Jose Farmer, World of Tiers -- Volume 1 -- very good to excellent. I DID find a spot where two men-at-arms seemingly vanish into thin air. :) First time actually reading this highly regarded fantasy series; this contains the first two novels. The second was not as good as the first.
  27. Alan Dean Foster, Outland -- good. This is a pretty straightforward adaptation of the movie screenplay. I'd call it a workmanlike performance; a journeyman effort.
  28. Barbara Hambly, Traveling With the Dead -- Excellent! This is another good vampire series, with great historically accurate details.
  29. Rick Riordan, The Sun and the Star -- A Nico di Angelo Adventure -- Excellent! I guess this was a particularly appropriate book to start right at the beginning of June. :)
  30. Barbara Hambly, Those Who Hunt the Night -- Excellent! Great character interplay between the vampire Isidro and the human, Professor Asher. There are several more in this series and I've ordered the second book.
  31. Isaac Asimov, ed., The Hugo Winners Vol. 1 -- excellent! This is a collection of the Hugo-winning short stories and novellas from the first few Hugo Awards, given at "the Conventions." Published in 1962, this book predates the usage of the term "WorldCon" for those events and it is slightly older than I am!
  32. Larry Niven, "created by," The Best Of All Possible Wars -- The Best Of Man-Kzin Wars -- very good, although one story from the previous book was repeated here.
  33. S.M. Stirling, Thomas T. Thomas and Jerry Pournelle, Man Kzin Wars V -- Very good to excellent!
  34. Eric Flint and Iver P. Cooper, 1636: The China Venture -- very good! Not a huge amount of action until the end, but a lot of great history and China-specific insights.
  35. B.R.I., Best of Uncle John's Bathroom Reader -- very good, if a bit dated now.
  36. David Weber, ed. What Price Victory? -- very good!
  37. Tad Williams, Tailchaser's Song -- excellent! Brilliant fantasy from the viewpoint of the Folk, i.e., cats. This gets REALLY dark toward the end, really bordering on horror. And there's a bittersweet ending. Fantastic book.
  38. Michael Moorcock, Citadel of Forgotten Myths -- very good. Maybe a bit less exposition would have made this excellent, though.
  39. David Weber, In Fury Born -- Excellent. Set in the same universe as Governor, and ironically later in the timeline, so I accidentally read these two books in timeline order. This one is focused on ground squad-level action instead of fleet actions.
  40. David Weber and Richard Fox, Governor -- excellent! Really hope there's another book coming in this series. This is a "companion volume" to In Fury Born (a prequel), so that one's next.
  41. Peter Orullian, The Vault of Heaven -- Story Volume One -- very good.
  42. Peter Orullian, The Sound of Broken Absolutes -- very good.
  43. Tim Powers, On Stranger Tides -- excellent! The loose basis for the "Pirates" movie, this was really good and had lots of interesting voodoo lore. Oddly, the "Epilogue" contains the final confrontation.
  44. Peter Orullian, Trial of Intention -- Excellent, but there are no more books to finish the story...yet.
  45. Peter Orullian, The Unremembered -- very good to excellent; perhaps a bit overwritten (it's a THICK paperback). The author is a friend o' mine on Facebook...and he likes Queensryche and Dream Theater, so that's cool. :)
  46. Anne McCaffrey, The Coelura -- good; the ending seemed a bit "pat." This was a remarkably quick read, about 30 minutes tops, with embedded illustrations and a lot of "white space."
  47. Greg Cox and T.K.F. Weiskopf, eds, Tomorrow Sucks -- excellent! This is a great collection of vampire short-stories focusing on a more scientific and less metaphysical approach.
  48. James L. Haley, The Devil In Paradise -- Captain Putnam In Hawaii -- Excellent! I think this is all he's written in this series.
  49. James L. Haley, The Shores of Tripoli -- Lieutenant Putnam and the Barbary Pirates -- excellent!
  50. Ian Spektor, The Truth About Chuck Norris -- The Unauthorized Parody -- fair to good. Many of these Chuck Norris quips are familiar...and some are pretty dark.
  51. Robert A. Heinlein, The Door Into Summer -- Excellent! And, it has a cool cat. :)
  52. Robert A. Heinlein, Space Cadet -- Excellent! I picked up a lot of older Heinlein books at McKay in Chattanooga...paying several times the original cover price. :)
  53. James L. Haley, A Darker Sea -- Master Commandant Putnam and the War of 1812 -- excellent! Like Hornblower or the Jack Aubrey series, but with a bit less ship-handling. Appears to be the second book in the series, so now I'll have to backtrack.
  54. Pablo Hidalgo, Star Wars: Rogue One -- The Ultimate Visual Guide -- very good. This is a very thorough pictorial look at one of the best Star Wars movies of recent years. I'd have liked to see more long shots of the Scarif base, which had gorgeous scenery.
  55. Eric Flint and Griffin Barber, 1637 -- The Peacock Throne -- Excellent!
  56. John Ringo and Gary Poole, We Shall Rise -- very good. A few of the stories were only marginally about the virus outbreak and the infected. I was surprised that the contributors' "bible," if it exists, didn't specify that there HAD to be interaction with infected in any story. Still, many of the stories were excellent.
  57. Charles E. Gannon, At the End of the Journey -- very good. Much better than the first book.
  58. Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo Book 5: The Tower of Nero -- excellent! Great ending to this YA series.
  59. Eric Flint, Paula Goodlett and Gorg Huff, 1637: The Volga Rules -- very good to excellent.
  60. Eric Flint, Gorg Huff and Paula Goodlett, The Macedonian Hazard -- fair. There are a lot of problems with these "cruise ship transported to 323 BC" stories. All of Wikipedia would not be available as stored data, a cruise ship's machine shop could not make radio tubes, etc. It's a fun concept but inexpertly handled.
  61. David Weber and Timothy Zahn with Thomas Pope, A Call To Insurrection -- excellent! Part naval battles, part palace intrigue, and part murder-mystery all wrapped up in one.
  62. Bathroom Readers Institute, Ultimate Challenge Trivia Quiz -- very good. Quite different from their usual milieu, but good.
  63. Eric Flint and Charles E. Gannon, 1637: No Peace Beyond the Line -- excellent! It's like several great battle scenes interspersed with some soap-opera romance...and a good deal of sex. :)
  64. Charles E. Gannon, At the End of the World -- very good. There is NO way a 70-foot sailing vessel would ever depart on a charter with just one captain/crew member...and eight completely untrained kids, though. Also, some of the sailing details seemed "off."
  65. Eric Flint and Walter H. Hunt, 1636: The Atlantic Encounter -- very good. The early colonial setting in North America is fascinating. The ending of the book is a bit lackluster, though.
  66. David Day, The Illustrated Worlds of Tolkien -- good. The illustrations varied: some good, some so-so, but there was a lot of informed description.
  67. Rob Halford, Confess -- excellent! This is almost as well-written as Bruce Dickinson's autobiography and FAR more personal.
  68. David Weber and Eric Flint, To End In Fire -- very good. Despite the really enticing cover painting of a large station under attack, there is almost no real action in this one until the very end, just a LOT of meetings, and more meetings....and more meetings. The meetings are important to the overall story of the Honorverse and the final action sequence is a good payoff, but whew. At the four-fifths done point I was really beginning to wonder.
  69. Bruce Dickinson, What Does This button Do? -- excellent! Really looking forward now to seeing his spoken-word appearance soon!
  70. Frank Herbert, Dune -- excellent! I re-read this after seeing the new movie, which was quite good.
  71. Robert A. Heinlein, Between Planets -- excellent! Written before we knew the thickness of Venus' atmosphere and the thinness of Mars'.
  72. Robert A. Heinlein, Farnham's Freehold -- excellent! And yes, controversial!
  73. Robert A. Heinlein, The Star Beast -- Excellent! Still holds up pretty well as a "juvie."
  74. Robert A. Heinlein, Assignment In Eternity -- Excellent! Two short novels and two short stories, all pretty good.
  75. Kevin Steverson, Salvage Title -- re-read, still very good!
  76. Eric Flint and K.D. Wentworth, The Course of Empire -- excellent! Sadly, I guess this is that rarity in SF and fantasy...a stand-alone novel.
  77. Eric Flint (ed.), The Grantville Gazette -- good. One of the stories was pretty dry (too much exposition) and the nonfiction articles were so-so. This is the first of these in bound, print form.
  78. Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis, 1635: A Parcel of Rogues -- Excellent! This is another one I thought I'd read before.
  79. Eric Flint and Charles E. Gannon, 1636: The Vatican Sanction -- Excellent! I was startled to see I hadn't read this one before, but THIS page doesn't lie. So I picked it up at McKay in Chattanooga.
  80. David Weber, Old Soldiers -- Excellent! Weber book in Keith Laumer's Bolo universe? Sign ME up!
  81. Eric Flint and Ryk E. Spoor, Boundary -- Excellent! This was a re-read but I'd forgotten a lot of the action.
  82. David Weber, Uncompromising Honor -- re-read, excellent! Just had to go back and read this to start off the Third Fleet Reading Challenge. :)
  83. Bathroom Readers Institute, Best of Uncle John's Bathroom Reader -- great, if a bit dated, collection of new articles and the best of their Volumes 1-7.
  84. Bathroom Readers Institute, Uncle John's Supremely Satisfying Bathroom Reader -- great, for $1!
  85. Bathroom Readers Institute, Uncle John's All-Purpose Extra-Strength Bathroom Reader -- great find for $1 at McKay!
  86. Eric Flint (ed.), Ring Of Fire (anthology) -- excellent! This was the very first shared-world anthology in the Ring of Fire milieu and I was surprised I had not read it before.
  87. Robert A. Heinlein, ed., Tomorrow, the Stars -- excellent! A great selection of short stories from the likes of Isaac Asimov, Fritz Leiber, Henry Kuttner, C.M. Kornbluth, Lester Del Rey, Murray Leinster, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and others? Yes, PLEASE! Some of the stories were a bit dated -- this was copyrighted in 1952 -- but it's still a fine collection.
  88. Bathroom Readers Institute, Uncle John's Great Big Bathroom Reader -- an older one, but still great.
  89. Jerry Pournelle, Janissaries -- excellent!
  90. Estelle Daniel, The Art of Gormenghast -- excellent! Much more than just an art book, this covers details such as Mervyn Peake's upbringing, his art, and the actors' own commentary about the books and the production. Written by the BBC series' producer and with a foreword by Stephen Fry, the actor who portrayed Bellgrove, the Headmaster. Fantastic!
  91. David Weber, Into the Light -- excellent! REALLY hope there's more material coming in this series.
  92. David Weber, Out of the Dark -- excellent! Not only was this great (and a bit of a surprise, since it doesn't get the same press that his Baen books get), but the sequel came out in hardcover just as I finished this. The twist ending is nothing short of majestic.
  93. The Harvard Lampoon, Bored of the Rings -- good to excellent (re-read). A totally irreverent parody of the original (but they acknowledge Tolkien's brilliance too).
  94. John Ringo and Gary Poole, eds., Black Tide Rising -- very good to excellent. Like the preceding anthology, not every story is a gem, but most of them are.
  95. John Ringo and Gary Poole, eds., Voices of the Fall -- very good to excellent. Not every story is a gem, but most of them are.
  96. John Ringo and Mike Massa, River of Night -- Excellent! Much better than the first volume, helped by the fact that this is all previously unknown territory. Also cool that it partly focuses on TVA's Watts Bar Dam.
  97. Isaac Asimov, Robots and Empire -- excellent! (Re-read.) And here we find the start of the Zeroth Law.
  98. Isaac Asimov, I, Robot -- excellent! Some quintessential Three Laws stories, and another one I apparently hadn't read before.
  99. Isaac Asimov, The Stars, Like Dust -- very good. Another one I apparently hadn't read before.
  100. John Ringo and Mike Massa, Valley of Shadows -- fair to good. This book reads as if it was written by Massa and not so much Ringo, as it lacks Ringo's sense of humor. It also covers what happened in New York during the Fall, something we had already largely seen, and introduces police, the Mafia, politicians and other types that we frankly just don't care about. Just tell us what happened to Steve's brother Tom!
  101. John Ringo, Strands of Sorrow -- excellent! These 4 "main" books are all great.
  102. John Ringo, Islands of Rage and Hope -- excellent!
  103. John Ringo, To Sail A Darkling Sea -- excellent! Really enjoying these. I lol'd at the reference to the metal band Sabaton, too.
  104. B.R.I., Uncle John's Robotica -- good. Mini-hardback format, but these (and others) were just $1 at McKay. :)
  105. John Ringo, Under A Graveyard Sky -- excellent! Some familiar musicians' names in this one, too!
  106. Isaac Asimov, The Currents of Space -- very good to excellent. I don't think I'd read these last two before. (!)
  107. Isaac Asimov, Pebble In the Sky -- very good to excellent.
  108. Isaac Asimov, Foundation's Edge (re-read) -- excellent! You can see the differences between this much-later work and the 1950's-era Foundation trilogy. When he wrote the first three books, computers -- and so much more -- didn't exist yet.
  109. Isaac Asimov, Foundation (re-read) -- excellent.
  110. Isaac Asimov, Foundation and Empire (re-read) -- excellent.
  111. Isaac Asimov, Second Foundation (re-read) -- excellent. Prelude to Foundation prompted me to grab these from the upstairs book-room.
  112. David Weber and Steve White, In Death Ground -- Excellent! This is almost a series of vignettes about different space-combat theaters involving a new, implacable alien enemy. It also opened a portal to yet another series or two to pick up. :)
  113. John Ringo, Into the Looking Glass -- Excellent! (Re-read).
  114. Robert Jordan, Conan the Magnificent -- very good. There WAS an odd plot-hole right at the end, though, and some seemingly-overlooked unfinished business.
  115. Isaac Asimov, Prelude to Foundation -- very good to excellent. I don't seem to have read this prequel before, which is kinda surprising. Now I'm wanting to re-read some of the Foundation and Empire books.
  116. The World of the Neverending Story (Paper Tiger Press) -- good. This was mostly a photo book with some text commentary and background info. The editing and proofreading was pretty lacking, though.
  117. Dr. Robert L. Forward and Martha Dodson Forward, Marooned On Eden -- good. This is a sequel to Dr. Forward's excellent Rocheworld books but it DOES lack a lot of conflict. It's scientifically sound, of course, but there are a lot of plot holes and some pretty odd behaviors from the crewmembers who get marooned. It also seems that Our Heroes get off incredibly easily while marooned on a completely alien world: the plants and animals are not only nonpoisonous but even nourishing, etc.
  118. Keith Jeffery, The Secret History of MI6 -- very good to excellent. This is a very scholarly, well-documented look at the British Secret Service, known as "S.I.S." for most of its history here. Oddly enough it is almost never referred to as "MI6" in the text.
  119. Dr. Robert L. Forward, Starquake -- excellent! The ending is a bit "pat" but overall this was great. I'm shocked I apparently hadn't read it before.
  120. National Space Society, Blueprint for Space Exploration -- Very informative. I got this as a workplace contributor to NSS.
  121. Suzanne Collins, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes -- only fair. (!) This was a good book until the end of the 10th Annual Hunger Games...and then it became a trainwreck. Don't want to say more without betraying plot spoilers.
  122. The Kane Chronicles Survival Guide -- very good to excellent. Nicely presented ancillary short based on the Riordan books.
  123. Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Communion Blood -- Excellent. This St.-Germain story is set back in Rome 30 years after Atta Olivia Clemens' True Death.
  124. Robert McCammon, Swan Song -- Excellent! Not quite as compelling to me as Boy's Life but still a fantastic novel. Part post-apocalytic tale, part horror and magick.
  125. Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Crusader's Torch -- Excellent! This one is about Olivia Clemens, and it's set during the same time period -- around AD 1190 -- as Path of the Eclipse. Like that one, this is a "journey" tale.
  126. Robert McCammon, Queen of Bedlam -- Excellent! Sequel to Speaks the Nightbird and if anything, slightly better.
  127. Robert McCammon, Gone South -- Excellent!
  128. Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, In the Face of Death -- excellent! This one follows Madelaine de Montalia for many years, from Europe to San Francisco during the Gold Rush, and then to the Southeast during the Civil War and afterwards back in Europe.
  129. Kevin J. Anderson and Neil Peart, Clockwork Lives -- very good. This was the graphic novel version.
  130. Barry Hughart, The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox (re-read) -- still brilliant!
  131. Robert McCammon, Speaks the Nightbird Part 1 and 2 -- Excellent! First book he wrote after his decade-long hiatus. Not quite as compelling as Boy's Life but still quite good.
  132. Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Commedia Della Morte -- excellent! This is set in France during the Revolution.
  133. Robert McCammon, Boy's Life (re-read) -- still brilliant! Reading this almost seems like a cross between the folksy small-town A Christmas Story and the darker Stranger Things. This is one of those books that crosses the border between genre fiction and true literature. A true classic; highly recommended
  134. Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Path of the Eclipse -- excellent! This one is set in China, then Tibet, then India during the Mongol invasion of China and to the west under Jenghiz Khan. For a wonder, St.-Germain's final love in this one doesn't die, and actually thrives after his inevitable sad departure.
  135. Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Mansions Of Darkness -- excellent! This one is set in Peru after the Spanish conquest and while by now the general plot of most of the St.-Germain novels is familiar territory, it's the journey, the writing style and the historical details that make these books so great.
  136. Eric Flint, Worlds II -- overall, excellent. Some of his anti-religion stories came across as a bit heavy-handed and intolerant, though.
  137. John Ringo, Eye of the Storm -- excellent!, but so far, there is no sequel to this and it's crying out for one. Nice to see lyrics from my friends' band The Cruxshadows in the book.
  138. Kevin Steverson, Hide the Lightning -- Coalition Book 1 -- very good.
  139. Kevin Steverson, Salvage System -- very good.
  140. "Michael Crichton," Andromeda Evolution -- very good! A new Andromeda Strain sequel written by a ghost [writer]. Some parts seemed spot-on, but others seemed a little too fantastic or far-fetched for Crichton's original milieu.
  141. Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo Book 4: The Tyrant's Tomb -- excellent! Looks like one more evil Roman emperor (that's not QUITE a tautology) and one more Python to go....
  142. Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo Book 3: The Burning Maze -- Excellent! This was actually a re-read, to my surprise; I must not have logged it in before. I'd picked up the fourth book at Costco and will read that one next.
  143. Caitlin Kittredge, Street Magic -- excellent! First in a new series.
  144. Michael Crichton, Disclosure -- very good to excellent. This tale of sexual harassment with corporate intrigue strikes pretty close to home.
  145. Eric Flint & Ryk Spoor, Boundary -- very good. This is more of a "hard" SF exploration tale....
  146. Janny Wurtz, To Ride Hell's Chasm -- very good. It DID seem a bit overwritten....
  147. Eric Flint, 1637: The Polish Maelstrom -- Excellent!
  148. David Weber and Griffin Barber, 1636: Mission to the Mughals -- Excellent! Leaves lots of room for a sequel, too.
  149. David Weber, Apocalypse Troll -- Excellent! A rarity nowadays, too: a stand-alone sci-fi novel!
  150. J.M. Lee, Song of the Dark Crystal -- very good to excellent. These two books, authorized by Jim Henson's estate, apparently form at least part of the story for the upcoming Dark Crystal prequel series on Netflix.
  151. J.M. Lee, Shadow of the Dark Crystal -- very good.
  152. Dr. Robert L. Forward, Indistinguishable From Magic -- excellent. I didn't know we were making and storing some forms of antimatter even back in 1992. (!)
  153. Ian Christe, Sound of the Beast -- excellent...although it only runs through 2002.
  154. Max Henessey, Lion of the Sea, The Dangerous Years and Back to Battle -- fair. These three "Capt. Kelly MacGuire" books cover WWI through WWII and are a look at the Royal Navy during the period, but they are curiously light on details.
  155. David Weber, The Sword of the South -- Excellent! Sequel to the prior series and set 70 years in its future. Alas, I think this is where Weber has stopped for now.
  156. David Weber, Wind Rider's Oath -- Excellent!
  157. David Weber, War God's Own -- Excellent.
  158. David Weber, Oath of Swords + Sword Brother -- Excellent. Back to the beginning, where I should have started.
  159. David Weber, War Maid's Choice -- Excellent, but nothing on the paperback indicated this was not the first book in this series, so it was a difficult slog at first. :)
  160. Eric Flint, Gorg Huff and Paula Goodlett, The Alexandrian Inheritance -- fair to good. Cruise ship gets transported to the Alexandrian Empire during the break-up. Some of the behaviors here seem wildly off-mark and there are other more-technical problems as well. Subsequent to Time Spike in that universe but there is no contemporary storyline in this one.
  161. Kevin Steverson, Salvage Fleet -- good. Similar thoughts as with the prequel. I'll read the final volume when it comes out.
  162. Kevin Steverson, Salvage Title -- good. There's a bit too much exposition and explanation and some curiously uninteresting presentations of battle scenes, but it's a first novel and the underlying story is fun.
  163. Eric Flint and Marilyn Kosmatka, Time Spike -- very good. A "parallel sequel" to the 1632 alt-history timeline.
  164. David Weber, Through Fiery Trials -- very good to excellent! Finally some time is elapsing on Safehold!
  165. Adm. James Stavrides, Destroyer Command: Lessons of a First Command -- excellent! This is the fascinating running diary kept by the USS Barry's CO during his first warship command. Published by the US Naval Institute Press.
  166. George R.R. Martin, Fire And Blood -- very good to excellent. The tale of House Targaryen in Westeros from Aegon the Conqueror up. This is apparently the first of two books.
  167. John Ringo, The Princess of Wands (apparently a re-read) -- excellent. We can conclude that God has no problem bringing a cat back to life, but balks at bringing back my friend Kelly Lockhart. :D
  168. William Goldman (after S. Morgenstern), The Princess Bride (re-read) -- excellent. I found a nice, illustrated anniversary edition at Costco for relatively cheap. One of the most fun parts of this is trying to figure out how much -- if any -- of Goldman's backing comments and editorializing is true.
  169. John Ringo & Tom Kratman, Watch on the Rhine -- very good to excellent. While SJWs and those easily offended would probably bristle at the portrayal of the German SS here, I thought the authors' intentions were clear: respect the dedication while decrying the ideology. My only reason for not rating this as a clear "excellent" is that, compared to the fighting in the US, the Germans didn't seem to have as hard a fight. No mention of how fast the Posleen multply (and the attendant problems with "feral" Posleen), etc.
  170. John Ringo & Julie Cochrane, Cally's War -- good. A lot of fun action in this, and the writing is much better than in The Hero, but I gave up on trying to figure out who were the "real" bad guys in this, as it often got confusing. The ending is also unclear.
  171. John Ringo & Michael Z. Williamson, The Hero -- fair. You can tell this was written mostly by the secondary writer, as it's missing most of Ringo's normal humor and wit. It also has a pretty ho-hum ending after a big buildup.
  172. David Weber, Uncompromising Honor -- excellent! Aparently this is the last in the "main line" Honor Harrington series and there are lots more stories to unfold here, but all in all, a satisfying end to her part in the timeline.
  173. John Ringo, Hell's Faire -- very good.
  174. John Ringo, When the Devil Dances -- very good.
  175. John Ringo, Gust Front -- excellent!
  176. John Ringo, A Hymm Before Battle -- Excellent! The strategic set-up is a little "pat" -- it's hard to imagine a powerful, millions-strong alien invasion being stymied by rivers and hills -- but still, fun stuff.
  177. Michael Moorcock, The Eternal Champion -- re-read. This was a more recent edition.
  178. Max Brooks, World War Z -- excellent. The "oral history" aspect of this worked well, IMHO.
  179. Lloyd Alexander, The High King (Chronicles of Prydain Vol. 5) -- Excellent!
  180. Lloyd Alexander, Taran Wanderer (Chronicles of Prydain Vol. 4) -- Excellent!
  181. Lloyd Alexander, The Castle of Llyr (Chronicles of Prydain Vol. 3) -- Excellent!
  182. Lloyd Alexander, The Black Cauldron (Chronicles of Prydain Vol. 2) -- Excellent! And now I should go get the movie.
  183. Lloyd Alexander, The Book of Three (Chronicles of Prydain Vol. 1) -- Excellent! Amazingly, these are NOT re-reads. Thanks to my friend Derek Tatum for the recommendation.
  184. Battlestar Galactica -- The Official Companion Season 4 -- excellent! Once again, there are lots of fascinating insights into the series here. This series of books has piqued my curiosity enough to go back and re-watch more of the show on Blu-ray.
  185. John Christopher, The Coming of the Tripods via Kindle -- re-read, just underway. I had a renewed interest in the old Tripods series from the BBC, and discovered that Christopher wrote this prequel many years later. A tidy and reasonably plausible explanation of how the Tripods first conquered humanity...and the first resistance movement against them.
  186. Battlestar Galactica -- The Official Companion Season 3 -- excellent! Once again, there are lots of fascinating insights into the series here, and some of the most memorable events -- like the "exodus" from Cylon occupation on New Caprica -- take place in Season 3.
  187. Maria J. Leel, Song of the Sulh (re-read) -- excellent! This is a nice addition to the Wraeththu mythos.
  188. Dudley Pope, Ramage and the Dido -- Excellent! Apparently this is the last one...which is terrible since it ends with a hint of more action in the West Indies.
  189. Dudley Pope, Ramage and the Saracens -- Excellent!
  190. Dudley Pope, Ramage at Trafalgar -- Excellent!
  191. Dudley Pope, Ramage's Challenge -- Excellent!
  192. Dudley Pope, Ramage's Trial -- Excellent!
  193. Dudley Pope, Ramage's Devil -- Excellent!
  194. Dudley Pope, Ramage and the Renegades -- Excellent!
  195. Dudley Pope, Ramage's Signal -- Excellent!
  196. Dudley Pope, The Ramage Touch -- Excellent!
  197. Dudley Pope, Ramage and the Rebels -- Excellent!
  198. Dudley Pope, Ramage's Mutiny -- Excellent!
  199. Dudley Pope, Ramage's Diamond -- Excellent!
  200. Dudley Pope, Ramage and the Guillotine -- Excellent!
  201. Dudley Pope, Ramage's Prize -- Excellent!
  202. David Weber, A Call To Vengeance -- excellent! Really hope there are more of these coming.
  203. Dudley Pope, Governor Ramage, R.N. -- Excellent!
  204. Dudley Pope, Ramage and the Freebooters -- Excellent!
  205. Dudley Pope, Ramage and the Drumbeat -- excellent. This is like "Hornblower lite" but still really good. Book 2 of the series; I'd read the first one years ago.
  206. Eric Flint and Virginia deMarce, 1635: The Dreeson Incident -- fair. This could have been written in about 300 pages, and instead runs to 800. It reads like a Grantville soap-opera far too often.
  207. Eric Flint and Virginia deMarce, 1634: The Ram Rebellion -- good. The main story is decent but some of the short stories included are pretty poor or (ballet, anyone?) uninteresting.
  208. L. E. Modesitt Jr., The Eternity Artifact -- very good. Actually comes across as simpler than you'd expect.
  209. Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, A Flame In Byzantium -- excellent. This one is about Atta Olivia Clemens, Quinn's second-most-popular vampire, and is set in the days of the Byzantine Empire when it reached its largest extent.
  210. Rick Riordan, The Ship of the Dead [Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, Book 3] -- Excellent! Another good completed YA series, this time a trilogy, from Riordan.
  211. Eric Flint and Charles E. Gannon, 1636: The Papal Stakes -- Excellent.
  212. Stephen Baxter, Ark -- very good. Sequel to Flood. These two books were good, but something seemed a little "off" when it came to the victims' reactions sometimes. And the original 'flood' premise still seems a little iffy....
  213. Stephen Baxter, Flood -- very good. Despite initial appearances, this was not exclusively a global warming or climate-change novel. While the premise for the oceans' rise (kilometers high, eventually) is a bit far-fetched and some of the author's predictions are IMO off the mark (and he avoided a lot of grimmer details), I enjoyed it.
  214. Robert L. Forward, Dragon's Egg (re-read) -- brilliant. It's been a while and this is a remarkable work in SF. Great science extrapolation in the finest tradition of good SF.
  215. Robert L. Forward, Rocheworld -- very good to excellent. I'd read the predecessor story Flight of the Dragonfly years ago but this was expanded with 50,000 words added. Really good.
  216. Aaron J. French, Aberrations of Reality -- good to very good short-story collection. This book came to me courtesy Storm Constantine; it's a UK edition.
  217. Eric Flint, 1636: The Ottoman Onslaught -- excellent!
  218. Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo Book 2 -- The Dark Prophecy -- very good.
  219. Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo Book 1 -- The Lost Oracle -- very good. Nice to discover a "current" new series involving both the Greek and Roman demigods, after the war with Gaia.
  220. Rick Riordan, The Demigod Diaries -- very good. The final story in this is credited to Riordan's son Haley (age 16), and it's really good. It doesn't have Riordan's normal humorous quips and it's quite dark.
  221. Rick Riordan, Demigods and Magicians -- excellent. Three "framing" short stories showing the first meetups between the Egyptian and Olympian pantheon characters in Riordan's works, and they're really good.
  222. John Ringo, Into the Looking Glass -- very good.
  223. David Weber and BuNine, House of Steel -- re-read. Grabbed it for the warship stats, stayed for the excellent framing story about King Roger and his fateful decision to build-up the Royal Manticoran Navy's force-projection ability.
  224. John Ringo, Here There Be Dragons (re-read). Grabbed this one since it was handy and decided it'd be good to re-read it after finishing what is apparently the whole series, at least for now.
  225. Bathroom Readers Institute, Uncle John's Unstoppable Bathroom Reader -- very good to excellent. This one's an older one.
  226. Bathroom Readers Institute, Uncle John's Epic -- very good. This is BRI's first foray into large-format glossy pages and illustrated articles. I wouldn't want to pay the full $30 price-tag, but I got it for $10 at Sam's. :)
  227. James P. Hogan, Voyage To Yesteryear (re-read) -- excellent! Still the classic utopian novel it was when I first read it. Not recommended for statists or progressives.
  228. Jude Fisher, A Visual Guide to Middle-Earth -- very good. Visually gorgeous with lots of stills from the movies, the layout and design is a bit odd, resulting in a fair amount of repeated info in the text.
  229. David Weber, At the Sign of Triumph -- re-read the ending, 'cause it's just THAT satisfying. :)
  230. Veronica Roth, Carve the Mark -- fair. Judging from her...unusual...grasp of stellar cartography, Ms. Roth probably needs to stick with earthbound stuff like Divergent.
  231. Anne Rice, Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis -- very good to excellent.
  232. Anne Rice, Prince Lestat (via Kindle) -- Excellent! This is a fine return to form.
  233. John Christopher, The Coming of the Tripods via Kindle -- excellent! I had a renewed interest in the old Tripods series from the BBC, and discovered that Christopher wrote this prequel many years later. A tidy explanation of how the Tripods first conquered humanity.
  234. John Ringo, East of the Sun, West of the Moon -- good to excellent....although the happy ending is a bit confusing. Is the Council War over or not?
  235. Uncle John's Great Big Bathroom Reader -- good to excellent. Back to 1998 with this one.
  236. David Weber, At the Sign of Triumph -- Excellent! This apparently concluding volume leaves a lot unsaid at the end, but the ending is satisfying (if a bit "pat") and there are no lengthy, stultifying passages about weapons design to bog it down. In an Afterword, David Weber indicates that Merlin Athrawes' storytelling might not be done yet, but if so, the pace would need to speed up: at this rate the Safeholders will be able to challenge the alien Gbaba in about....40 more books.
  237. Rick Riordan, The Hammer of Thor [Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard Book 2] -- Excellent!
  238. Rick Riordan, Serpent's Shadow -- excellent! Glad I finally read this trilogy, which I purchased as a box set.
  239. David Weber, Shadow Of Victory -- good to very good. I was disappointed to see that the book serves as more of a retrospective of past events -- framed by "wetwork" on planets in the Verge -- than all-new additions to the Honorverse timeline, until the very end where it gets current. Also, the dizzying array of planets and characters that form the framing backstory gets so confusing -- especially the one, lonely all-Polish planet in the entire League -- that it detracted from my enjoyment of the storyline. Still, it wasn't bad, just not a great entry in the Honorverse.
  240. Rick Riordan, The Throne of Fire -- Excellent!
  241. Rick Riordan, The Red Pyramid -- excellent! Going backwards a bit and reading these three Kane Chronicles books out of sequence. The story and plotting are a it more compact here since there are only two POV characters involved, but hey...Egyptian mythology is as cool as Greek, Roman or Norse.
  242. Larry Correia, Son of the Black Sword -- excellent! Got a free copy of this at ChattaCon in January and I finally overrode my misgivings at its resemblance to Stormbringer to read it. Looking forward to the next one.
  243. John Ringo, Against the Tide (Council Wars Book 3) -- very good to excellent.
  244. Battlestar Galactica -- The Official Companion Season 2 -- excellent! There are lots more fascinating insights into the series here.
  245. Battlestar Galactica -- The Official Companion -- Excellent! Great recap of Season 1 of this excellent series.
  246. John Ringo, Emerald Sea (via Kindle) -- very good. Council Wars book 2.
  247. Glen Cook, Chronicles of the Black Company -- excellent! Sorry I didn't read these sooner, but my prior experience with Cook ("Swordbearer") had thrown me off
  248. David Weber and Jane Linskold, Fire Season -- very good. Second in a series of "treecats on Sphynx" books for younger readers.
  249. Bathroom Readers' Institute, Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges Into California -- very good. We make fun of California a lot -- almost as much as THEY make fun of us here in "the flyover states" -- but it IS a pretty nifty place for trivia and random odd facts!
  250. John Ringo, There Will Be Dragons -- good to very good. Like many SF/fantasy crossovers this one was a bit contrived. The ending didn't really wrap things up too well, either.
  251. John Ringo, The Hot Gate -- very good to excellent. This would have been an "excellent" book across the board if the ending had been a little better-handled. The same issue also plagued the first two books in this trilogy.
  252. John Ringo, The Citadel -- very good to excellent.
  253. David Weber (with BuNine), House of Steel -- The Honorverse Companion -- very good to excellent. The background info is good and the framing story about King Roger is excellent.
  254. Robert Silverberg, The Gate of Worlds -- very good to excellent. Nifty alternate-history novel, although it's a shame the protagonist never succeeds in his quest.
  255. John Ringo, Princess of Wands -- very good. Apparently a certain "familiar" character mentioned prominently on the back cover dies fairly early in the book. C'est l vie, Kelly L.!
  256. John Ringo, Live Free Or Die -- very good. The ending is really abrupt, though, with no "wrap-up." I'll get Citadel, the next one in the series, soon.
  257. David Weber, A Rising Thunder -- excellent. Re-read this quickly before letting a friend borrow it.
  258. John Ringo, The Last Centurion -- very good to excellent. My liberal friends need NOT apply. :)
  259. Robert Silverberg, Lord Prestimion -- very good to excellent. I've read the third book in this series, but it's proving hard to find online.
  260. David Weber, A Call To Arms (via Kindle) -- very good.
  261. Robert Silverberg, Sorcerors of Majipoor -- very good.
  262. Robert Silverberg, Valentine Pontifex (re-read)-- Excellent yet again.
  263. Robert Silverberg, Downward to the Earth -- very good to excellent. It's an older book, but it checks out.
  264. Robert Silverberg, Lord Valentine's Castle (re-read) -- excellent (again)! This is a great book, a true classic. I joked about it around Valentine's Day, and then decided I really should re-read it after many years away. It's still as captivating as before!
  265. Bathroom Readers' Institute, Uncle John Plunges Into History -- good. This one dates back to 2001 -- 16 years -- and the writing style seems at times to be a little too smart-alecky for its own good. This is part of a new batch of these books I bought up at McKay's Used Books in Chattanooga ($2 each!).
  266. Bathroom Readers' Institute, 24K Gold -- very good to excellent. I'm reading these in publication order, oldest to newest, and these most-recent books are much more up-to-date. This one is only a few years old!
  267. David Weber, Hell's Foundations Quiver -- very good to excellent. Sometimes the level of technical and military detail can be a bit stultifying, but these are still great reads. At this rate it will take about 30 volumes and about 40 years of writing before Mankind can regroup and kick the evil alien Gbabas' collective asses, though. :)
  268. Bathroom Readers' Institute, The World's Gone Crazy -- very good to excellent. I'm reading these in publication order, oldest to newest, and these most-recent books are much more up-to-date.
  269. Rick Riordan, The Sword of Summer [Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard Book 1] -- Excellent! Riordan's previous young-adult series are really fun (and full of mythological lore), and this new series, involving Norse mythology, is even more fascinating to me personally.
  270. Uncle John's Fast-Acting, Long-Lasting Bathroom Reader -- very good to excellent.
  271. Uncle John's Legendary Lost Bathroom Reader -- very good to excellent!
  272. Uncle John's Ahhh-inspiring Bathroom Reader -- very good.
  273. Jody Lynn Nye and Anne McCaffrey, The Dragonlover's Guide To Pern -- good. Really kinda so-so as a Pern guide.
  274. Storm Constantine, MythoLumina -- very good to excellent. This collection of largely SF stories isn't quite as successful as Mythanimus, but it's still quite good.
  275. Storm Constantine, Mythanimus -- excellent! This may be the best of the short story collections she has republished under her own Immanion Press imprint.
  276. The Best of the Best of Uncle John's Bathroom Reader -- very good! I'd seen some of these articles and stories before, but still entertaining to read them.
  277. Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Darker Jewels -- Excellent! This Saint-Germain novel is set in Russia during the reign of Ivan the Terrible.
  278. David Weber, Path of the Fury -- excellent! Basically similar to, and on par with, his Honor Harrington novels.
  279. Jacqueline Carey, Dark Currents -- excellent! Here, she tries her hand at urban fantasy with excellent results.
  280. George R.R. Martin, Tuf Voyaging (Meisha Merlin edition) -- very good.
  281. Larry Niven and Edward Lerner, Fate of Worlds -- excellent! Great ending to this series, but it is at times a bit tricky to follow.
  282. George R.R. Martin et al, The Hedge Knight (re-read) -- graphic novel, really good. Ironically while reading this, I was "added" as a friend on Facebook by Jack Cowan, who is one of the jousting knights from "The Jousters" troupe.
  283. Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, Escape From Hell -- very good to excellent! This is a sequel to their legendary book Inferno and is in good company with Dante Alighieri.
  284. Storm Constantine and Wendy Darling (eds.), Para Kindred -- Excellent! This is the best overall Wraeththu story collection yet!
  285. Veronica Roth, Insurgent -- very good to excellent. I re-read this to compare its differences to the movie.
  286. Karen E. Taylor, Cellar -- good to excellent. This really reads like it could be a good horror film.
  287. Storm Constantine (ed.), Para Imminence -- re-reading the physical copy of this, kindly sent to me by Storm.
  288. Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, The Burning City -- very good. This is a fantasy novel set in the same universe of The Magic Goes Away, where magic eventually fades when the local supply of 'manna' is depleted. I was unaware of its existence until now despite the book being published in 1990 (!). It is sometimes a bit tricky to follow, but still good.
  289. David Weber (ed.), In Fire Forged -- Worlds of Honor Pt. 6 -- very good to excellent.
  290. David Weber and Timothy Zahn, Call of Duty -- Excellent. First book in the Manticore Ascendent series, and it's a refreshing historical look at a Kingdom of Manticore that is still young, naive...and vulnerable.
  291. Tim Cooke, Atlas of History's Greatest Disasters and Mistakes -- very good. I'm a little surprised that the sacking of the Library of Alexandria didn't make the cut, though.
  292. Storm Constantine, The Moonshawl -- Excellent! I re-read the physical printed book with more of an eye toward enjoyment, after proofreading the manuscript earlier. I'm mentioned as proofreader in the Acknowledgements. I only detected two errors that I missed, too. :)
  293. Rysa Walker, Time's Edge via Kindle -- Excellent!
  294. Uncle John's Ultimate Bathroom Reader -- Very good. Published quite a while ago now, but still worth the $2 price used at McKay in Chattanooga....
  295. Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Come Twilight -- excellent! This novel of the vampire St. Germain is set in different periods during Spain's Moorish occupation spanning several centuries, and is even more historically informative than CQY's typical St. Germain novels!
  296. Clay Gilbert, Annah -- Children of Evohe -- good. Written by my friend Clay. There are some problems with the science, tech-level and astronomy, but Evohe and its inhabitants are rendered well.
  297. David Weber, ed., Beginnings -- Worlds of Honor #6 -- very good to excellent. The two Weber stories and the Tim Zahn stories were excellent; the other two were good.
  298. Rick Riordan, Blood of Olympus -- Excellent! Great end to the series, although the ending seemed a bit too "pat." Still, a great book series, a bit superior IMO to Harry Potter.
  299. Storm Constantine, The Moonshawl -- Excellent! I proofed the manuscript for Storm before it was sent for publication. :)
  300. David Weber, Like a Mighty Army -- re-read. It's on my Kindle and handy, so.....
  301. Veronica Roth, Divergent -- re-read. I skimmed this again after seeing the film.
  302. Sherrilyn Kenyon, Son Of No One -- very good to excellent. Not quite as compelling as Acheron or Styxx and with a bit more of the ol' "rumpy-pumpy" but still good.
  303. Rysa Walker, Timebound -- very good to excellent YA fiction. (Kindle free borrow)
  304. Storm Constantine, Mythophidia (Kindle edition) -- very good to excellent. With only one exception, all of the stories that were new to me were really good. There were a few repeats, though.
  305. Clay Gilbert, Dark Road To Paradise -- very good. Written by a good friend of mine, too!
  306. Eric Flint and Charles E. Gannon, 1636: Commander Cantrell in the West Indies -- Excellent! I recommend not reading this on a Kindle, though, since the maps in the beginning are hard to read and would have been nice to refer to.
  307. Storm Constantine, Mythangelus -- excellent! A collection of 'angel' related short-stories, many of them new to me, from Storm C.? Great!
  308. Iver Cooper, 1636: Seas of Fortune -- Fair. There's no question the author knows a lot about South American and Japanese history, but the unnecessary inclusion of details and terminology make these two stories -- especially the Japanese one -- very hard to enjoy.
  309. Veronica Roth, Allegiant -- Excellent! Great trilogy!
  310. Veronica Roth, Insurgent -- excellent!
  311. Veronica Roth, Divergent -- excellent! Picked this up in trade-paperback at Walmart relatively cheaply since it was well-spoken of. Haven't seen the movie yet, though.
  312. David Weber, Like A Mighty Army -- Very good. The lack of maps (at least in the Kindle edition) makes this one a lot 'denser' to follow. There's too much exposition yet again, and at this rate it will take another 120 volumes in this series before humanity can challenge the alien Gbaba and retake the galaxy.
  313. Larry Niven, Neutron Star (via Kindle) -- Excellent! Great to re-read this, my first introduction to Larry Niven's great Known Space series!
  314. Eric Flint and David Carrico, 1636: The Devil's Opera -- good to very good (via Kindle). This novel is part police-procedural, partly about madness and obsession and partly about opera. Weird, but it (mostly) works.
  315. Larry Niven and Paul Chafe, Destiny's Forge -- A Man-Kzin Wars Novel -- excellent! (Via Kindle.) The resolution of the story is a bit quick and 'pat', and sometimes there's a bit too much biological detail thrown in, but otherwise this is a great story involving humans and the kzinti.
  316. John Flanagan, Ranger's Apprentice Book 11: The Lost Tales (via Kindle) -- very good to excellent! This is a collection of prequel short-stories.
  317. John Flanagan, Ranger's Apprentice Book 12: The Royal Ranger -- very good to excellent.
  318. Jacqueline Carey, Naamah's Blessing -- Excellent! About as good an ending as you could ever want for a great series of books.
  319. Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Roman Dusk -- excellent! This novel of the vampire Saint-Germain takes place during the later, rough days of the Imperium.
  320. Maria J. Leel, Song of the Sulh -- very good. (Via Kindle)
  321. Storm Constantine (ed.), Para Imminence -- very good. The two Storm C. stories were excellent, the others good to okay. (Via Kindle Paperwhite trial)
  322. Jacqueline Carey, Naamah's Curse -- excellent!
  323. Sherrilyn Kenyon, Styxx -- very good to excellent! Although filed under paranormal romance, the torment she puts her characters through is anything BUT romantic!
  324. Rick Riordan, House of Hades -- excellent! Nico de Angelo's brave act really "makes" this one.
  325. Terry Pratchett, Snuff -- very good to excellent. Not nearly as humorous as Pratchett's earlier Discworld books, though. This one, which centers on Commander Vimes of the Watch, is almost like a police-procedural.
  326. Terry Pratchett, I Shall Wear Midnight -- very good to excellent! This book is QUITE 'dark' for a young-adult novel, too.
  327. Terry Pratchett, The Wintersmith -- very good to excellent! I think I may have skipped one of the Wee Free Men/Tiffany Aching books along the way, here....
  328. Harry Turtledove, The Guns of the South -- excellent! The premise: what if the South had suddenly been armed with fast repeaters -- AK-47 rifles, in fact -- in large quantities not long after the Battle of Gettysburg?
  329. Jacqueline Lichtenberg, House of Zeor -- very good to excellent. First in the Sime/Gen series which I've been told I need to read. :)
  330. Todd McCaffrey, Dragonheart -- fair to good. There really isn't that much actual conflict or drama here, and a lot of mysteries are left unresolved. A workmanlike effort.
  331. Ian Christe, The Sound of the Beast -- the Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal -- excellent! My metal IQ must have increased by 10 points just from reading this!
  332. David Weber, Bolo! -- Excellent! I've definitely read at least one of the stories in this collection before, but not all. Really amazing concept originally developed by Keith Laumer.
  333. David Weber, Heirs of Empire -- very good. This third book in the series more closely resembles the planetbound struggle between Church and "heretics" in Weber's Safehold series.
  334. David Weber, The Armageddon Inheritance -- very good. Second book in the series.
  335. David Weber, Mutineer's Moon -- very good. This earlier 3-book series is a clear predecessor to the starfaring part of Weber's Safehold books.
  336. Karen E. Taylor, The Vampire Vivienne -- good to excellent (re-read, I think).
  337. Kevin J. Anderson, Clockwork Angels -- the Novel -- very good. Based on Rush's Neal Peart's story and the album of the same name. The ending was a bit of a let-down, as I expected a bit more from it, but it was still good. There are numerous Rush lyrical references cannily embedded in the text, too.
  338. Harry Turtledove, Fort Pillow -- excellent! This is a novelized account of the actual Civil War battle at Fort Pillow, perhaps the most controversial battle of the war.
  339. Gail Z. Martin, Ice Forged -- good to excellent! Purchased this one from the author herself at ChattaCon (or maybe it was Connnooga), at her book-release room party. Really good!
  340. Harry Turtledove, Sentry Peak -- very good to excellent. I kinda read this trilogy backwards as compared to "real" Civil War history...oops! Gives a new appreciation to the area around "Rising Rock," i.e. Chattanooga TN.
  341. Uncle John's Bathroom Reader: Wise Up! -- Good. read this one cover-to-cover. Not quite as good as their regular books since it's basically a collection of factoids that they've featured as 'dogs' at the bottoms of pages.
  342. David Weber, Shadow of Freedom -- excellent! Even though this one is centered on Honor H.'s friend Michelle Henke, it's still really 'meaty' concerning the overall story arc.
  343. Harry Turtledove, Advance and Retreat -- very good.
  344. Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, A Memory of Light -- excellent! At last, this mighty (and mighty long) series is concluded! Sanderson has done a great job in finishing it for us, too.
  345. Uncle John's Bathroom Institute Salute to the Armed Forces -- read this one cover-to-cover. Picked up a used copy on Amazon for about $11.
  346. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit (re-read) -- excellent (of course). Re-reading this for comparison to Peter Jackson's film, since it's been a while....
  347. Harry Turtledove, Marching Through Peachtree -- Very good. I'll need to get the prequel and the sequel at some point. Not as good as his Worldwar series, but Turtledove is hampered here by the need to emulate the actual Civil War batles of the Georgia campaign, but set in his inverted alternate universe.
  348. Michael Moorcock, The Best Of Michael Moorcock -- excellent! There are some stories here I hadn't noticed before that are very good!
  349. David Weber, Midst Toil And Tribulation -- Excellent! Weber does often depart into lengthy discussions about new weapons, technologies or tactics, but the overall quality of these books, including strong characterizations and a refreshing 'take' on traditional religion, makes up for that.
  350. David Weber, How Firm A Foundation -- Excellent!
  351. Rick Riordan, The Mark of Athena -- Excellent! Keeping up a good track record, here.
  352. Uncle John's Slightly Irregular Bathroom Reader -- Excellent. Picked up a used copy on Amazon for about $6. Well-worth it at twice the price!
  353. Eric Flint et al., 1636: The Kremlin Games -- very good. This book covers the situation in Russia from the arrival of Grantville in 1630's Germany up through 1636. It seemed a bit "by the numbers" in parts, but it was still very enjoyable.
  354. Uncle John's Unsinkable Bathroom Reader -- read this one cover-to-cover, too! Picked up a used copy on Amazon for about $6. Well-worth it at twice the price!
  355. John Flanagan, Ranger's Apprentice: The Emperor of Nihon-Ja -- very good to excellent. This is the last in the series, and it's quite good, although a little hard to believe in some spots.
  356. John Flanagan, Ranger's Apprentice: Halt's Peril -- excellent!
  357. Uncle John's Heavy Duty Bathroom Reader -- unlike previous in-stall-ments in this series of engaging books, I actually read it cover-to-cover instead of skimmed it. These are fun reads and perfect for bathroom reading, which is where I read anyway. :)
  358. Uncle John's Endlessly Engrossing Bathroom Reader -- actually read it cover-to-cover.
  359. Stephen Boyett, Elegy Beach -- Excellent. Long-delayed (20? 30 years?) sequel to Ariel and it didn't disappoint too much, although in both books the climax is oddly anti-climactic. There's also a subtly handled gay relationship in it.
  360. Stephen Boyett, Ariel (expanded reissue) -- Very good to excellent. This is mostly a re-read, but some material was added to it. Hard to spot it, really.....
  361. Suzanne Collins, Hunger Games -- Excellent! Re-read. Couldn't help but re-read this dark, yet uplifting, young-adult post-apocalyptic tale after seeing the movie, which was very good, but no match for the novel.
  362. John Flanagan, Ranger's Apprentice: The Kings of Clonmel -- very good. These have gotten somewhat better as they've progressed.
  363. John Flanagan, Ranger's Apprentice: Erak's Ransom -- very good.
  364. John Flanagan, Ranger's Apprentice: The Siege of Macindaw -- very good.
  365. David Weber, A Rising Thunder -- Very good to excellent! The Second Battle of Manticore is only slightly less bloody than the first.....
  366. Barry Hughart, The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox -- Brilliant! (re-read) These three stories, collected together, are excellent and fresh; high fantasy and mystery based in China and using Chinese myths! The first novel collected here, Bridge of Birds, is by a slight margin the best, but all three are great!
  367. John Flanagan, Ranger's Apprentice: Sorceror of the North -- good. Not as good as the other Young Adult fiction I've been reading thanks to my friends' kid Adam, but good enough.
  368. John Flanagan, Ranger's Apprentice: The Battle For Skandia -- good. Not as good as the other Young Adult fiction I've been reading thanks to my friends' kid Adam, but good enough.
  369. John Flanagan, Ranger's Apprentice: The Icebound Lands -- good. Not as good as the other Young Adult fiction I've been reading thanks to my friends' kid Adam, but good enough.
  370. John Flanagan, Ranger's Apprentice: The Burning Bridge -- good. Not as good as the other Young Adult fiction I've been reading thanks to my friends' kid Adam, but good enough.
  371. John Flanagan, Ranger's Apprentice: The Ruins of Gorlan -- good. Not as good as the other Young Adult fiction I've been reading thanks to my friends' kid Adam, but good enough.
  372. Anne McCaffrey, Dragondrums (re-read) -- Excellent. Found some first? edition paperbacks up at the Pendergrass Flea Market and had to re-read them to commemorate Anne McCaffrey's passing.
  373. Anne McCaffrey, Dragonsinger (re-read) -- Excellent. Found some first? edition paperbacks up at the Pendergrass Flea Market and had to re-read them to commemorate Anne McCaffrey's passing.
  374. Anne McCaffrey, Dragonsong (re-read) -- Excellent. Found some first? edition paperbacks up at the Pendergrass Flea Market and had to re-read them to commemorate Anne McCaffrey's passing.
  375. Michael Crichton, State of Fear (re-read) -- still excellent. Found a used paperback copy and bought it as a 'reading' copy.
  376. Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay -- Excellent! Somewhat better, in fact, than the reviews on Amazon led me to believe.
  377. Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire -- Excellent! Great, err, se-quell. :)
  378. Suzanne Collins, Hunger Games -- Excellent! Dark, yet uplifting, young-adult post-apocalyptic tale. Now I can't wait for the movie, scheduled for March 2012!
  379. Rick Riordan, Son of Neptune -- Excellent! This just-released hardback continues with the excellence of the prior book in this new series.
  380. Eric Flint, 1636: The Saxon Uprising -- Excellent! This one is more action-packed than its immediate sequel and there's even more large-scale battles and changes happening!
  381. Eric Flint, 1635: The Eastern Front -- Very good to excellent. There's a bit too much explanation and exposition going on, but there's a lot going on here that's important to the timeline.
  382. Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus Book 1: The Lost Hero -- excellent!
  383. Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians book 5: The Last Olympian -- excellent!
  384. Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians book 4: The Battle of the Labyrinth -- excellent!
  385. Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians book 3: The Titan's Curse -- excellent!
  386. David Weber, A Mighty Fortress -- very good to excellent. As one review from, I think Publisher's Weekly put it, Weber tends to over-write a lot, but his engaging tone makes up for most of it. I'll buy the new one when it comes out.
  387. George R.R. Martin, A Dance With Dragons -- good to excellent! Finally this book came! --And remember, whenever a fan complains about GRRM taking too long to finish the series, HE kills off a Stark. :)
  388. David Weber, By Heresies Distressed -- Excellent!
  389. Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians book 2: The Sea of Monsters -- excellent!
  390. Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians book 1: The Lightning Thief -- excellent! I'm borrowing these from friends whose young son has read them all. Good young-adult series although the film based on this book deviates substantially from the book.
  391. David Weber, By Schism Rent Asunder -- Excellent!
  392. David Weber, Off Armageddon Reef -- Excellent! I've had these for a while, but finally got around to reading them thanks to my friend Justin's recommendation.
  393. Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis, 1635: The Cannon Law -- very good to excellent. Slow-ish start and there are times when some aspects are belabored a bit too much, but the action picked up nicely. L:et's just say that this one REALLY diverges from 'regular' history regarding the ownership of Rome. :)
  394. Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, Paul of Dune -- Very good. The flashbacks to Paul Atreides' childhood on Caladan were the best part of this one. Still, I'm interested enough in the back-story that I'll probably pick up the sequel at some point.
  395. Matt Wagner, Mean Deviation -- Three Decades of Progressive Heavy Metal -- Excellent! It's pretty cool because many of the bands, their members, and others in this book are personally known to me. I was surprised to discover that the author focused more on bands who are progressive (as in "being different and evolving") than Progressive (as in, sounding much like Dream Theater). Very highly recommended!
  396. Larry Niven, Protector (re-read) -- Excellent! I re-read this since it ties in closely with the new Ringworld-prequel novels I've just finished.
  397. Larry Niven, Tales of Known Space (re-read after many years) -- Excellent. Found a very old copy and wanted to return to this after reading more recent, updated Known Space stories (shown below).
  398. Bryan Lee O'Malley, Scott Pilgrim #6 (graphic novel) -- very good. Fun series, but I still think some of the characters are drawn too similarly.
  399. Bryan Lee O'Malley, Scott Pilgrim #4 (graphic novel) -- very good.
  400. Bryan Lee O'Malley, Scott Pilgrim #3 (graphic novel) -- very good.
  401. Bryan Lee O'Malley, Scott Pilgrim #2 (graphic novel) -- very good.
  402. Bryan Lee O'Malley, Scott Pilgrim #1 (graphic novel) -- very good.
  403. Larry Niven and Edward Lerner, Betrayer of Worlds -- excellent!
  404. Larry Niven and Edward Lerner, Destroyer of Worlds -- excellent! Somewhat better than its immediate predecessor, too!
  405. Larry Niven and Edward Lerner, Juggler of Worlds -- very good to excellent. Not as bad as the reviews on Amazon would have one believe, but this IS a re-hash of some of Niven's best Known Space short-stories from different perspectives. Still, there is a lot of new cause-and-effect information presented, especially about Puppeteer involvement in Known Space. The finale, involving negotiations with the Outsiders, is pretty damned gripping!
  406. George R.R. Martin etc., The Hedge Knight (graphic novel) -- Excellent!
  407. Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, The Towers of Midnight -- excellent! Tarmon Gaidon has finally begun!
  408. Eric Flint and Virginia de Marce, 1634: The Bavarian Crisis -- fair to good. This one was a real foot-slog for a while, but luckily, the action finally picked up. Still didn't think it was quite worth all the effort, and the ending seemed rather "pat."
  409. Storm Constantine and Wendy Darling, eds., Paragenesis: Stories From the Dawn of Wraeththu -- very good. Some of the stories in here, including Storm's new story, Wendy's, and "The Burned Boy" by Gwyn Harper, were really good. I had already read a couple of the others on fan-fiction sites so they were already familiar; one of the stories, "Building Immanion," was somewhat disappointing despite the grandiose title. At times the editing and proofreading on this book really made me wince, but overall, it was a good read. Readers should read the other Wraeththu Mythons books first, though. Also, Storm's retrospective on her original inspirations for Wraeththu is quite interesting.
  410. Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis, 1634: The Galileo Affair -- very good. Nowhere near as exciting as The Baltic War, but I just discovered this was actually written BEFORE that one. :)
  411. David Weber and Eric Flint, 1634: The Baltic War -- Excellent! No kidding...there's a lot of war in this. :)
  412. Dr. Robert L. Forward, Dragon's Egg (re-read) -- Excellent!. This is a legendary work of good, creative "hard" SF. Don't expect too much character development here -- of the humans, anyway -- but the science and the then-fresh concept are what good SF is all about.
  413. David Weber and Eric Flint, 1633 -- very good to excellent! Not quite as action-packed as the first one, though.
  414. S.M. Stirling, Dies the Fire -- very good. I have a feeling the author's politics and mine don't precisely coincide...and do all Wiccans really behave THAT silly? A good read, although I felt the end was a bit rushed.
  415. David Weber, Mission of Honor -- excellent! Weber will sometimes take a bit too long explaining or belaboring something, but overall, this series is terrific! For those counting the costs of war, the millions dead in this novel eclipse the total even from the Battle of Manticore....
  416. Eric Flint, 1632 -- excellent! My only complaint is that the author seems to be really "taken" by the labor-union culture, but it's a minor quibble. I'm looking for the sequel now.
  417. Tanya Huff, Blood Lines and Blood Pact (collected together) -- Excellent! These books about the vampire Henry Fitzroy are really good, and criminally undernoticed.
  418. Michael Moorcock, The Chronicles of Corum -- Excellent! (Re-read, of course.) This is the hardcover White Wolf edition, found used at McKay's in Chattanooga. Great to revisit the first three Books of Corum!
  419. John Linder and Neal Boortz, FairTax: The Truth -- very good. I ordered a copy of the actual first FairTax book from DeepDiscount.com and AFAIK, it STILL hasn't been shipped 3 months later...highly unusual.
  420. Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Burning Shadows -- excellent! A novel of the Count St. Germain, this time set in c. 480 CE in the disintegrating Eastern and Western Roman Empires, with Attila the Hun rampaging through the Carpathians. CQY's historical vampire series is great!
  421. David Weber, Worlds of Weber -- Excellent! This collection had its desired effect, encouraging me to check out more of Weber's non-Honorverse stuff. :)
  422. Cecil Adams, Triumph of the Straght Dope -- very good. This is another of BenMech's leftover books. A bit dated now, and the formatting still leaves a lot to be desired, but still fun reading.
  423. Stephen Boyett, Ariel -- very good for a first novel. Written in 1983 and a bit dated, but the concept is still fun: what if electricity, gunpowder and many other technologies suddenly failed...and magic (like unicorns, dragons, griffins, spellcasting, etc.) was suddenly, and sometimes dangerously real? The ending is quite bittersweet and casts a pall over the rest of the book, keeping it from being "great."
  424. Terry Pratchett, Unseen Academicals -- very good. This installment in the enormously popular Discworld series is allllll about "footie," i.e., football, i.e. soccer. This might be why I found the book on the bargain table at Barnes & Noble; Americans don't get into footie as much as, say, the Brits do and some of the references are no doubt lost on me.
  425. C.J. Cherryh, Hunter of Worlds - very good to excellent. Written back in 1977, this was one of C.J.'s earlier works and it shows a bit. Good story, but I think an over-usage of italicized alien concepts distracts from the narrative rather than helps it.
  426. Robert A. Heinlein, Have Spacesuit - Will Travel -- excellent! My list shows that I've actually read this before...but the plot didn't seem familiar. Still great either way. One of Heinlein's better, more enduring "juvies."
  427. Jake T. Forbes (story) and Chris Lie (illus.), Jim Henson's Return to Labyrinth Vol. 3 (manga) -- very good. Continuing the authorized revisit to the world of the movie Labyrinth. There is a 4th concluding volume which I'll get shortly.
  428. Jake T. Forbes (story) and Chris Lie (illus.), Jim Henson's Return to Labyrinth Vol. 2 (manga) -- very good. Continuing the authorized revisit to the world of the movie Labyrinth.
  429. Sherrilyn Kenyon, Born of Night -- good. The first book in her SF-based series of League romances, it's pretty decent, but shows a bit of unfamiliarity with science-fiction writing, either on the part of a young Sherrilyn Kenyon or her editors, who in fairness might not have been used to editing SF.
  430. David Weber and Eric Flint, Torch of Freedom -- Excellent!
  431. David Weber and Eric Flint, Crown of Slaves -- Excellent! A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2003, probably due to its egalitarian anti-slavery content. I can't see them making such a fuss over Weber's normal libertarian fare! (Shame on them....)
  432. Robert Jordan and B. Sanderson, The Gathering Storm -- excellent! One annoying sidebar character killed off, two Forsaken get a faceful of Balefire, one really well-executed death of a long-running character, one long-foretold battle, a major rift healed...and Zombietown to boot! :) Very impressive Wheel of Time debut for Brandon Sanderson, who will be finishing out the series!
  433. (script) George RR Martin, A Game of Thrones -- apparently incomplete at c. 60 pages, but it seemed like a good start for a possible movie.
  434. Popoff, Martin, Blue Oyster Cult: Secrets Revealed! -- very good. I have a much higher opinion than he does of the Imaginos album, and a lower opinion of the more recent CDs....
  435. Jacqueline Carey, Namaah's Kiss -- Good to excellent! Set well into the future after the initial Kushiel trilogy, this one is not as compelling -- Carey might never equal those! -- but it features excellent characterization and a broader scope. And China! And a dragon!
  436. Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged -- excellent (re-read). I revisited this because the book is startlingly topical right now, with America's accelerating march toward European-style Socialism. If I feel up to it, I might write a blog comparing the book and contemporary America.
  437. Jake T. Forbes (story) and Chris Lie (illus.), Jim Henson's Return to Labyrinth (manga) -- very good. An authorized revisit to the world of the movie Labyrinth? Heck, it's as if a sequel has already been storyboarded! I ordered the following two Labyrinth manga stories as well as a Dark Crystal one.
  438. Jacqueline Carey, Santa Olivia -- excellent! This is totally different from her Kushiel series, a near-future postapocalyptic tale -- but engrossing and of course well-written.
  439. David Weber, Storm From the Shadows -- good, but not great. Some of Weber's detailed descriptions of new weapons and such can be a little dauting, but paramount of my criticism is that there's way too much talking and meeting and conferencing, and not all that much acton. And the ending is a bit too open-ended, too.
  440. Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, A Feast In Exile -- Excellent! This St. Germain/vampire novel is set in the time of Timur (known as Tamerlane in the West) and his sacking and destruction of Delhi.
  441. Sherrilyn Kenyon, Sins of the Night -- excellent! For a book-series tagged as paranormal romance, these books are long on plot and surprisingly short on the 'mushy stuff.' Nicely developed world, too.
  442. Sherrilyn Kenyon, Fantasy Lover -- good to excellent! First in the Dark-Hunter saga. Tagged as romance primarily for sales purposes, methinks, as they're surprisingly deep.
  443. Michael Kerrigan, A Dark History of the Roman Emperors -- Excellent! This was a pretty good bargain for $15, a coffee-table sized, lavishly illustrated look at the dark underbelly of Imperial Rome. It's startling to realize that Nero and Caligula probably weren't the worst of the bunch!
  444. John Ajvide Lindqvist, Let the Right One In -- Excellent! The movie, in Swedish with English subtitles, was great, one of the best vampire movies I've ever seen!
  445. Sewell and Richmond, Red Star Rogue -- very good. The story of how a Russian missile sub sank in 1968...and whether it was in the act of firing a nuclear missile at Pearl Harbor at the time. Based on the evidence presented, if secondhand accounts of evidence are accurate, then I think it DID happen, and that's truly scary.
  446. Sherrilyn Kenyon, Acheron -- excellent!
  447. David Weber and John Ringo, We Few -- Excellent! Good ending to the series, although there are a number of loose ends. An epilogue would have been great!
  448. Sherrilyn Kenyon, Seize the Night -- excellent! I'll have to read some more books from the Dark-Hunter series. Although they can be classed as romance, the steamy scenes aren't ALL that steamy....so far, at least. :) These books seem to transcend the 'paranormal romance' genre, which may be why Sherri is consistently a #1 NYT bestseller.
  449. David Weber and John Ringo, March to the Sea -- Excellent. Second book in this series; I read the third, then the first, then this one. The fourth and final book should be here any day now.
  450. David Weber and John Ringo, March Upcountry -- good to excellent. Yes, I had to go backwards in the series; this is the first book. :)
  451. David Weber and John Ringo, March to the Stars -- good to excellent so far. Some of the military detail can get smothering, but it's a good story based on the historical march of Xenophon. I picked up the prequels. :)
  452. Storm Constantine, Student Of Kyme -- Excellent! Just as with The Hienama, the prequel, this isn't a story about mighty forces or huge events in Wraeththu history...just the lives and relationships of regular hara. You'll want to read The Hienama first, though.
  453. Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner, Fleet of Worlds -- Excellent! This has some great background info on Niven's celebrated alien species, the Pierson's Puppeteers!
  454. C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle -- excellent, of course! Re-read.
  455. C.S. Lewis, The Magician's Nephew -- excellent, of course! Re-read.
  456. C.S. Lewis, The Horse And His Boy -- excellent, of course! Re-read. This will make a great movie if the movie series gets this far.....
  457. C.S. Lewis, The Silver Chair -- excellent, of course! Re-read. This book will also make a great movie if it's made. (This volume is also the source for the bandname.)
  458. C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe -- excellent (of course). Re-read.
  459. C.S. Lewis, The Voyage of the "Dawn Treader" -- excellent (of course). Re-read.
  460. C.S. Lewis, Prince Caspian -- excellent. I re-read this after seeing the movie, to compare the changes.
  461. Michael Moorcock, The Metatemporal Detective -- very good to excellent. This is a collection of short-stories featuring Sir Seaton Begg as the title character. The steampunk universe MM presents here is kinda neet, but the more political stories -- including one with, IMO, a relatively ham-handed treatment of George W. Bush and co. -- don't fare as well. Still, it's a good collection of stories, some old and some new.
  462. Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Tempting Fate -- excellent! It's a bit odd reading a Saint-Germain book that's set so close to contemporary times, especially after reading one set in ancient Rome!
  463. Anne McCaffrey, The Skies of Pern -- very good.
  464. Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Blood Games -- Excellent!
  465. Mercedes Lackey, Magic's Price (used copy) -- very good to excellent (re-read). My reasons for not ever buying a new book by Ms. Lackey are by now well-known. I'd forgotten how annoying her over-use of capitalization ("Border") and italics could be. Still, this trilogy was a seminal influence in my formative years....
  466. Phillip Pullman, The Amber Spyglass -- excellent! This has shaped up to be a truly great series!
  467. Phillip Pullman, The Subtle Knife -- excellent!
  468. Phillip Pullman, The Golden Compass -- excellent! The differences between this book and the film are intriguing; some make sense and some don't.
  469. Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, The Palace -- excellent! Great historical details even if the plot is a bit formulaic (for CQY, anyway)
  470. Tanya Huff, The Blood Books, Vol. 1 -- excellent!
  471. Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle and Steven Barnes, Beowulf's Children (re-read) -- Very good to excellent!
  472. Terry Pratchett, Making Money -- very good to excellent! Hooray, a new Discworld book!
  473. C.J. Cherryh, Downbelow Station -- Excellent! I thought the ending was a bit "pat," but it's great to read a story set on the 'other side' but in the same universe as CJ's mighty Chanur books!
  474. Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Justice -- very good! The only serious flaw in this novel is that the climax occurs too early in the narrative, leading to a long denoument. Still, it's a great storyline!
  475. J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- excellent!
  476. Mercedes Lackey, Magic's Promise -- Very good. (Re-read, of a used copy as per my personal dictum.)
  477. Mercedes Lackey, Magic's Pawn -- Very good. (Re-read, of a used copy as per my personal dictum.) In many ways this is the book that started it all.... When I first read this book, I didn't realize how annoying Lackey's constant over-use of italics could be!
  478. Storm Constantine, The Ghosts of Time and Memory -- excellent! This is the Tor/Orb U.S. edition, which does not reflect my edits on the British edition. It has some odd editing errors, too.
  479. David Gemmell, The Lion of Macedon -- Excellent! Some of Gemmell's historical details are wrong -- preusmably intentionally so -- but this was well-written, as you'd expect from Gemmell.
  480. Michael Connelly, The Lincoln Lawyer -- very good to excellent! This was a bit outside my normal sphere, but a co-worker lent it to me. :)
  481. Robert A. Heinlein, The Green Hills of Earth -- excellent! Finding a new (to me) Heinlein short-story collection is like finding $20 in the back seat of your car. :)
  482. Alexander Kent, Midshipman Bolitho -- very good to excellent! I'll have to get more of these.
  483. Dudley Pope, Ramage -- very good to excellent. (Re-read.) First book in the well-regarded Lord Ramage seafaring series; my list shows I have the second book, but I don't see it here. This was good, so I want to continue the series....
  484. Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, Footfall -- Excellent! I'd read it before, of course, but my friend Derek found a nice hardback copy and it was a pleasure to read it again. I dunno if it's "The best alien contact novel ever written," as the cover blurb says, but it's wayyy up there.
  485. Ellen Kushner, The Privilege of the Sword -- Excellent! The ending seemed a bit rushed and a bit too 'pat,' but I liked this a lot more than The Fall of the Kings.
  486. Bill Fawcett (ed.), How to Lose a Battle -- Good. A nonfiction collection of articles about battles and plans that went south, with some good articles and some worse ones (mostly those written by Thomsen). Very lackluster proofreading, too. One of the articles was written by my friend Ed Kramer. Fawcett's mealy-mouthed epilogue, a thinly-veiled attack on George W. Bush, didn't sit too well with me. Bill, just come out and say it. Who are you afraid of?
  487. James M. Ward, Midshipwizard Halcyon Blithe -- poor. The author would benefit greatly from reading Patrick O'Brian. And this is being somewhat kind....
  488. Larry Niven, The Draco Tavern -- Excellent! It's cool that all of these stories have finally been collected in one place, along with some new ones. The Tavern's a great concept vehicle for alien interaction.
  489. Michael Moorcock, The White Wolf's Son -- excellent! This is apparently the true end of the Elric Saga, and was cool seeing almost all of the aspects of the Champion Eternal....well, except for Corum, darnit....
  490. Peter S. Wells, The Battle That Stopped Rome -- good. An historical account of a pivotal defeat of 3 entire Roman legions by Germanic forces in 9 AD, the author tended to belabor many points...probably to 'fill out' the work into a thicker book. Still, a fascinating true story.
  491. John Myers Myers, Silverlock -- re-read; excellent! Even more fun now that you can 'cheat' by going online to find out Myers' more obscure literary references!
  492. Storm Constantine, The Wraiths of Will and Pleasure -- Re-read; excellent! Some of the details had gotten misty, so it's great to be "home" again!
  493. Judith Tarr, Lord of Two Lands -- re-read; excellent again! I pulled this out while we were sorting my books upstairs. It's as great as it was before!
  494. Robin Lane Fox, Alexander the Great -- very good! This is the pre-eminent biography of Alexander for modern times.....
  495. Various, Alexander the Conquerer -- very good. A big coffee-table sized book with lots of photos and illos, it was only $4.
  496. Michael Moorcock, The Skrayling Tree -- very good to excellent!
  497. Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Scion -- Excellent! This one starts a bit slowly, but is well-worth the journey as we see Imriel de la Courcel develop as a character. Great to return to the world of Terre D'Ange!
  498. Arthur C. Clarke, 3001: Final Odyssey -- fair to good. There really wasn't too much going on, here, and the 'final' ending seemed a bit underwhelming.
  499. David Weber et al, The Service Of the Sword (shared-world anthology) -- Very good to excellent! Some stories have been excellent, while others, notably John Ringo's, seemed a bit silly.
  500. Robert Jordan, Knife of Dreams -- Very good! Lotsa stuff is finally happening as we approach Tarmon Gai'don. But, the book is overwritten as usual and features JR's curiously misogynistic worldview. Sometimes the reader doesn't need to know how big a woman's 'bosom' is. If I had a dollar for every time a woman gets spanked, whipped, birched or otherwise abused -- ten bucks if she's nekkid at the time -- I could buy gas for a week.
  501. Mary Renault, Fire From Heaven -- Excellent! Good research-notes in the back of the book, too!
  502. Mary Renault, The Persian Boy -- Excellent! This is a fictionalized, but mostly historically accurate, account of the life of Bagoas, the eromenos of Alexander the Great.
  503. Katherine Kurtz and Robert Reginald, Codex Derynianus -- great reference work!
  504. Katherine Kurtz, The Bastard Prince -- Excellent! Nice to get back into the great Deryni series with a good book!
  505. Robert Jordan, Crossroads of Twilight -- very good to excellent. Two -- or is it three? -- more books to go, if RJ lives that long....
  506. Frederik Pohl, The Boy Who Would Live Forever -- very good to excellent. A new Gateway novel! A bit choppy, but a good story.
  507. Storm Constantine, Grimoire Dehara: Kaimana -- a guidebook for deharan Chaos Magick, this isn't really my 'thing' but it's fascinating, looks good and it's almost worth the steep import price for the illustrations alone!
  508. Terry Pratchett, THUD -- excellent! Vampires and trolls and dwarves, oh my!
  509. David Weber, At All Costs -- excellent! Don't let the cover art fool ya; there's enough combat and carnage in this book as in the other books of the series combined. (!)
  510. George R.R. Martin, A Feast For Crows -- Excellent! Even though this is only half the story, it's still a great read. Criticized as being the 'lesser half' of a new two-volume installment in the Song of Fire and Ice trilogy, I wasn't that disappointed in it. Be advised that you might want to re-read the prior book (or all of them) before embarking on this one.
  511. Stephen R. Donaldson, The Runes of the Earth -- The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant -- very good to excellent! This is assuredly an evanescent return to The Land. As always with SRD's prose, readers with only a vocabule or two might want to have a dictionary handy. :)
  512. Jacqueline Carey, Banewreaker -- very good to excellent! Not quite as compelling as her Kushiel trilogy, but still good fantasy stuff. Looking forward to the next installment.
  513. Victoria Copus, Terzah's Sons -- very good to excellent! A nice look at the lives of everyday hara in Megalithica, this is a Wraeththu mythos novel.
  514. Clint Willis, ed., High Seas -- Stories of Battle and Adventure From the Age of Sail -- very good collection of stories and first-person 'real life' accounts.
  515. Christopher Chant, The History of North American Rail -- notable more for its terrific collection of photos than the text, which is relatively minor.
  516. J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince -- Excellent! Quite sad, though. It's fair to say that this series is no longer a Young Adult series.
  517. (Proofing/copyediting assignment) Storm Constantine, The Fulfilments of Fate and Desire (UK omnibus ed.) -- completed! A paid copyediting assignment for Immanion Press (UK), not that I wouldn't have done it for free... :)
  518. (Proofing/copyediting assignment) Storm Constantine, The Bewitchments of Love and Hate (UK omnibus ed.) -- completed! An assignment for Immanion Press, proofing one of my favorite novels is like sitting down for a great steak dinner. :)
  519. (Proofing/copyediting assignment) Storm Constantine, The Enchantments of Flesh and Spirit (UK omnibus ed.) -- completed! Another assignment for Immanion Press, this time for a new, definitive Wraeththu omnibus UK edition. :)
  520. Storm Constantine, The Ghosts of Time and Memory -- Excellent! I read this in its final form to detect any proofing errors I made -- I found three. Not too bad either!
  521. Storm Constantine, The Hienama (novella) -- Excellent! I found only one copyediting error, so I'm reasonably proud of my handiwork. :)
  522. "Raien Takarai," untitled Far Eastern Wraeththu piece -- reading and editing. Workmanship is excellent, and Storm C. made some suggestions regarding the action sequences. Now if only Raien can write faster...like, constantly, until he finishes it. :)
  523. Barry Hughart, Bridge of Birds -- re-read, and still excellent! This is a wonderful and slyly humorous tale.
  524. Larry Niven (ed.?), Choosing Names: Man-Kzin Wars VIII -- Good. There's some pretty lousy editing on this one, and some of the stories contradict..
  525. Evan Thomas, John Paul Jones: Sailor, Hero, Father of the American Navy -- Excellent! JPJ was not the paragon of leadership that you'd expect. This was an excellently-balanced look at JPJ.
  526. Immanion Press, Wraeththu -- From Enchantment to Fulfilment (roleplaying game) Magick section -- copyediting assignment completed.
  527. Patrick O'Brian, Hussein - An Entertainment -- Excellent! I thought this would be a children's book, but it was much more involved and adult than I thought it would be! A story of an Indian boy's growing of age, it even has some spycraft in it!
  528. Immanion Press, Wraeththu -- From Enchantment to Fulfilment (roleplaying game) Rules section -- copyediting assignment completed. I wish I'd had full editorial control on it.
  529. Michael Crichton, State of Fear -- Brilliant! While I don't believe that enviro-kooks go to quite the violent extremes Crichton shows in the book, there's no question that most of his observations are true...and that we have all of us been "had."
  530. Various, Writers of the Storm (Wraeththu shared-world anthology) -- excellent! All the stories were very good to excellent. There were some proofing errors, but overall this was worth the price.
  531. Larry Niven, The Magic Goes Away -- Excellent! I thought I'd read this before, but apparently I hadn't. Reading a 'new' Niven book is like finding an unexpected present under your Christmas tree. :)
  532. Lemony Snicket, A Series of Unfortunate Events -- The Bad Beginning -- good, very dark, but quite pricey for the short length.
  533. Karen E. Taylor, The Vampire Vivienne -- Excellent! I have a soft spot for historical fiction in general, and this book is largely historical. :)
  534. Mike Ashley (ed.), Men O'War -- Stories From the Glory Days of Sail -- very good to excellent. A bit uneven but the really good stories and excerpts make up for the lousy ones, like (gasp) Herman Melville's....
  535. David Gemmell, White Wolf -- Excellent. Maybe I'll read all of these books in order someday, without skipping over some. :)
  536. Storm Constantine, The Ghosts of Blood and Innocence (advance galleys) -- Excellent! This was a (most-welcome) proofreading assignment; the book was published in March, 2005 by Immanion Press in the UK. Without giving away too many spoilers, the action moves to a somewhat larger scale, there are lots of new realms to explore, and some almost-forgotten characters who reappear. And one longtime character who pulls a real surprise.
  537. S.P. Somtow, Vampire Junction (re-read) -- very good.
  538. Keith R.A. DeCandido, Star Trek IKS Gorkon: A Good Day To Die -- very good. The ending is a bit too much of a lead-in for the following book, though.
  539. S.E. Hinton, Hawke's Harbor -- good to very good. Overall, a sad book.
  540. M. Moorcock and Walt Simonson, Elric -- The Making of a Sorcerer Vol. 1 (graphic series) -- Excellent!
  541. Terry Pratchett, Going Postal -- excellent! Yet another great installment in the Discworld legacy!
  542. David Weber, The Shadow of Saganami -- very good to excellent! Worthy sucessor to the regular Honor Harrington series, although a bit less yakking about the politics of the Talbott Cluster and a bit more action would have made it splendid. :)
  543. J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan -- very good to excellent. This is the original version, which oddly enough I'd never read before.
  544. Larry Niven, Ringworld's Children -- Excellent! My only complaint is that it's relatively short.
  545. Karen E. Taylor, Blood Red Dawn -- Very good. Reading this is a bit jarring after reading the Kushiel trilogy, since it seemed like about one-fifth the size!
  546. Voltaire, What Is Goth? -- Very good to excellent. Pricey for the size, but otherwise it's great...and funny. Voltaire has a unique perspective on the goth scene, since he's part of it, but can poke fun while being taken seriously. His defense of Marilyn Manson is eye-opening.
  547. Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Avatar -- Excellent! This was an excellent trilogy. This final book is more wide-ranging than the others in both distance and resolution.
  548. Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Chosen -- Excellent! I had to run out and get the final book right away!
  549. Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Dart -- Excellent! Great new fantasy series, looking forward to the next one...
  550. The 9/11 Report: Final Report From the Commission On Terrorist Attacks In the United States -- should be required reading for everyone, no matter their politics. Only $10, too!
  551. R.A. Salvatore, Stars Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones -- Very good. Not too much extra material here, but it's competently written.
  552. Jerry Pournelle, S.M. Stirling and Dean Ing, The Houses of the Kzinti -- Excellent! I'd read "Cathouse" before, but not the other two novellas.
  553. Storm Constantine, The Shades of Time and Memory UK edition -- Terrific! At last, a new and credible threat to all Wraeththukind! Great new sequel to this series!
  554. L. Frank Baum, The Oz Chronicles Vol. 1 -- Very good! It was fun and fascinating to read the original versions again, after c. 25 years! I'll have to get Vol. 2.
  555. Anne McCaffrey, Lyon's Pride -- good. The action is often described, rather than directly narrated, considerably reducing the punch of this book.
  556. Dudley Pope, Ramage (Vol. 1 of the series) -- Very good to excellent. Not quite as stunning as C.S. Forester or Patrick O'Brian, but very good. There are a few odd capitalization and typesetting errors, though.....
  557. Karen E. Taylor, Resurrection -- Excellent! Now I'll have to find the intervening books I'm missing. And, it definitely needs a sequel, too.
  558. Terry Pratchett, Thief Of Time -- Excellent! One of the best Discworld books in years! (And it didn't even have the A-M City Watch in it (!))
  559. C.J. Cherryh, Chanur's Legacy -- very good to excellent. Not quite as good as the parent series that leads to it, but still well worth reading.
  560. C.J. Cherryh, Chanur's Homecoming -- Excellent! Highly recommended series!
  561. C.J. Cherryh, The Chanur Saga -- Brilliant! I'd read these before years ago and they're still great. The only problem is, the last book in the trilogy isn't included in this "omnibus" collection...so I got it separately.
  562. Terry Pratchett, Monstrous Regiment -- Excellent! Always a pleasure to delve into the Discworld!
  563. Karen E. Taylor, Blood Ties -- very good. Relatively simple/short vampire/romance novel.
  564. JRR Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
  565. JRR Tolkien, The Two Towers
  566. JRR Tolkien, The Return of the King -- I re-read these after seeing the last film. Peter Jackson actually improves on the original works in a few places. (!)
  567. Robert Jordan, New Spring: The Novel -- Excellent! I was gonna pass this one up for a while, but my roommate Tim read my copy and pronounced it great, so I had to try it, too. It is much more tightly written than Jordan's other WoT books.
  568. Storm Constantine, The Fulfilments of Fate and Desire (2003 Edition) -- Excellent! This new version has only minor changes from the original text, as near as I could tell, notably some expanded dialogue between Ferminfex Jael and Calanthe and some minor tweaks to re-align technology (presumably to "gel" with the forthcoming RPG). There is a small added bit to the appendices in back. Same font-size as the other two revised editions.
  569. Storm Constantine, The Bewitchments of Love and Hate (2003 Edition) -- Excellent! Not only is this book my favorite of the original trilogy, but this edition also includes a blurb from my review on the back cover (!) Storm's changes are not as widespread here as in Enchantments, which is good, since the original still stands as a fine example of Storm's writing style at its best. A few added scenes and passages here and there and some re-editing throughout. Despite having the same font problems as the revised Enchantments, I highly recommend it.
  570. Storm Constantine, The Enchantments of Flesh and Spirit (2003 Edition) -- Excellent! I also read the original version of this book side-by-side to compare the added scenes and the changes that Storm made. I loved some of them and am ambivalent towards others. This is like a 'directors-cut' version of the original book, with added scenes, dialogue and background. Highly recommended. Note: the font is smallish and different, but you get used to it. Additional review comments are at Amazon UK.
  571. Wendy Darling and Bridgette M. Parker, Breeding Discontent -- Very good! This is a shared-world Wraeththu story based in Storm Constantine's realms and published by her Immanion Press imprint.
  572. Dan Simmons, The Rise of Endymion -- Excellent! This has become one of my favorite recent SF series.
  573. Dan Simmons, Endymion -- Excellent!
  574. James P. Hogan, The Anguished Dawn -- Very good. Hogan's attempt at a utopia here isn't as workable as in Voyage to Yesteryear, and there's some odd planetary and bio-science thrown in...apparently intentionally. It seems a bit fishy (although Hogan provides some references), and I have to wonder if he's just trying to make a point, here.
  575. J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix -- Excellent!
  576. Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Hotel Transylvania -- Excellent! I'll need to find the rest of these someday.
  577. Anne Rice, Cry To Heaven -- re-read. This one is unfairly overshadowed by Anne's vampire/ghost fiction.
  578. Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman, The Fall of Kings -- Excellent! The ending is a bit "weak" or inconclusive and seems to cry out for a sequel, though.....
  579. Storm Constantine, The Wraiths of Will and Pleasure -- Excellent! Storm continues the Wraeththu series after a nearly decade-long hiatus, and it -really- feels good to be "home." Wraiths is a more-than-worthy sequel to the first trilogy, Wraeththu (Tor/Orb), and I highly recommend reading Wraeththu before this, so you have a better "feel" for this new novel.
  580. Karen E. Taylor, Blood of My Blood -- Excellent! My friend Brian's mom writes a good book....some scenes were overwritten but overall this was really good.
  581. Storm Constantine, The Thorn Boy -- Excellent! To my delight, this edition has many added stories, all set in the same universe as her Magravandias books. Sweet!
  582. Robert Silverberg, The King of Dreams -- Excellent! These three books are so much better than Mountains of Majipoor I almost wonder if the latter wasn't ghostwritten
  583. Robert Silverberg, Lord Prestimion -- Excellent!
  584. Robert Silverberg, Sorcerors of Majipoor -- Excellent!
  585. Ellen Kushner, Swordspoint (re-read) -- excellent! Even better than I remembered!
  586. Terry Pratchett, Night Watch -- excellent! Discworld AND time-travel in one book!
  587. Barry Hughart, The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox -- Brilliant! These three stories, collected together, are excellent and fresh; high fantasy based in China and using Chinese myths!
  588. Terry Pratchett, Jingo -- re-read, courtesy Robert "nojay" Sneddon from Scotland :)
  589. David Weber, The Short, Victorious War -- re-read
  590. David Weber, Honor of the Queen -- re-read
  591. Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, Dune: House Corrino -- excellent!
  592. Dan Simmons, The Fall of Hyperion -- Excellent! THIS one has a more-complete ending. :)
  593. David Weber, War of Honor (hardback) -- very good to excellent. The slow beginning eventually got more active, and it was worth the wait. :)
  594. Patrick O'Brian, Master and Commander -- re-read, still excellent. :)
  595. David Weber, On Basilisk Station -- re-read, and also still excellent :)
  596. David Weber (ed.), Worlds of Honor -- Excellent! All the stories are good except the last one, which is okay-y-y-y-y......
  597. David Brin, Foundation's Triumph -- very good.
  598. Greg Bear, Foundation and Chaos -- very good.
  599. Gregory Benford, Foundation's Fear -- Very good. There were a few trouble spots, but overall not too bad.
  600. Andrew Collins, From the Ashes of Angels -- The Forbidden Legacy of a Fallen Race -- fascinating! This is a treatise that also forms the basis for Storm Constantine's Grigori "fallen angels amongst us" trilogy. I don't hold with much of the theology behind it (and apparently, neither does Collins), but his presentation of historical evidence for "the Watcher culture" is excellent.
  601. Dan Simmons, Hyperion -- Very good. I was a bit startled by the non-ending. Don't expect much of a conclusion here; this is basically a "teaser." It's great storytelling, but I'm startled it won the Hugo and the Nebula with such an abrupt ending (and, at the time, no following volume). Still, it's clear the Hugo and Nebula voters could see the brilliance here, and with good reason.
  602. Storm Constantine, Way of Light -- Excellent! The ending is a bit too "pat," but this is still a tidy ending to the trilogy.
  603. Terry Pratchett and Paul Kidby (illus.), The Last Hero -- Excellent! The illustrations alone are worth the hefty price!
  604. Terry Pratchett -- The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents -- Excellent! Although marketed as a Discworld book for juveniles, it's as good as any of the other standalone books.
  605. Larry Niven and Stephen Barnes, Saturn's Race -- very good. Not quite up to their usual standards, however.
  606. Larry Niven, Rainbow Mars -- Excellent! This is a collection of old and new time-travel stories featuring Svetz, Niven's reluctant but staunch chrononaut. The new story is excellent; perfect Niven form.
  607. Robert A. Heinlein, Have Spacesuit Will Travel -- excellent! Discovering that, hey presto, there's a Robert Heinlein book I haven't read is like finding a $20 bill stuffed in your couch. Unlooked-for treasure!
  608. Larry Niven, Crashlander -- Excellent. Beowulf Schaffer has always been one of my favorite Niven characters. The framing story is good, too.
  609. Tad Williams, Otherland Vol 4: Sea of Silver Light (hardback) -- Excellent! Great ending to this series!
  610. David Brin, Heaven's Reach -- Excellent! I waited far too long to finish this series....
  611. Tad Williams, Otherland Vol 3: Mountain of Black Glass -- Excellent!
  612. Anne McCaffrey, The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall -- very good to excellent. It's neet to see the 'historical connection' between the original settling of Pern and the loss of most of their technology.
  613. Anne McCaffrey, The Dolphins of Pern -- I'd forgotten I'd read this before, and bought it again. :)
  614. Tad Williams, Otherland Vol 2: River of Blue Fire -- Excellent!
  615. Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, Dune: House Harkonnen -- Excellent!
  616. Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, Dune: House Atreides -- Excellent! Not as good as Dune but that's hardly a condemnation, either. :)
  617. Tad Williams, Otherland Vol 1: City of Golden Light -- Excellent! Much better than the back-cover blurb implied! Don't want to give too much away, but VR is involved. Time to hunt down the next book!
  618. David Weber, Worlds of Honor #3: Changer of Worlds -- Excellent! BTW, what happened to #1 and #2? :)
  619. Anne McCaffrey, Dragonseye -- Excellent! This one is set during the second Pass, and it's neet viewing the Pern colony in a state of transition from advanced technology to none.
  620. Michael Moorcock, The Dreamthief's Daughter -- Excellent! Slow start but a great Von Bek/Elric novel. Nice return to form by my friend in Texas.
  621. Harry Turtledove, Colonization: Down to Earth -- Excellent! Second book in the series.
  622. Harry Turtledove, Colonization: Second Contact -- Excellent! Great continuation of this series, c. 20 Terran years later....
  623. Harry Turtledove, Worldwar: Striking the Balance -- re-read the last part to get ready for the Colonization series. :)
  624. Anne McCaffrey, The Masterharper of Pern -- Excellent! Nice return to the timeframe of the first series. I hadn't kept up with the recent books in the Pern saga.
  625. Michael Moorcock and Storm Constantine, Silverheart -- Excellent! This came as a complete surprise; I didn't know they were done with it. Great collaboration between two author-friends of mine!
  626. Michael Moorcock, Sailing to Utopia -- Varied. Contains three relatively short novels plus a novella, which tended to increase in quality during the book.
  627. David Feintuch, Patriarch's Hope -- Very good. There are still some serious problems with this series -- the notion of a fleet of around a hundred warships bringing food in from out-system to save Earth's teeming billions from starvation is quite laughable, and Feintuch's sudden preoccupation with environmentalism seems a bit silly. Still, the ending is as gripping as you'd ever want.
  628. Raymond E. Feist, Krondor - The Assassins -- Excellent! Another great entry in the realm of Midkemia. (I'd still looove to see some more stuff written about the Tsurani side.)
  629. Raymond E. Feist, Krondor - The Betrayal -- Excellent! Better than I'd expected for a game tie-in, but then again, Feist insisted on writing it himself. :)
  630. Terry Pratchett, The Truth (Hardback) -- Excellent! There's a reason why Pratchett is the bestselling author in England. :)
  631. Anne Rice, Memnoch the Devil -- Excellent! I'd skipped this one by accident, but went back and found it used after finishing Armand. She has returned to form.
  632. James W. Huston, The Price of Power -- Very good. Not quite as good as Tom Clancy's stuff despite the Washington Post's blurb. :)
  633. Robert Jordan, Winter's Heart -- Excellent! Actually worth the wait. Still overwritten, but the ending makes up for it.
  634. George R.R. Martin, A Storm of Swords -- Excellent! This series is quite a ride!
  635. George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings (reread) -- excellent, but I've read it before. Wanted to get reacquainted with the realm. :)
  636. Anne Rice, The Vampire Armand -- Excellent! Much better than Tale of the Body Thief.
  637. Terry Pratchett, The Last Continent -- Excellent! See, there's a reason why Terry is Britain's best-selling author!
  638. Terry Pratchett, The Fifth Elephant (Brit. hardback) -- Excellent!
  639. Tom Clancy, Executive Orders -- Excellent! Clancy writing about Jack Ryan as President is every bit as good as Clancy writing about Ryan the spook. :)
  640. Storm Constantine, Crown of Silence -- Excellent! Sequel to the first book in the Magravandian Trilogy, Sea Dragon Heir, this one has a very bittersweet ending. It's also similar to its counterpart in the Wraeththu trilogy in that the story starts out with mostly new characters...but never fear; there's a clear link back to book 1. :)
  641. David Weber, Ashes of Victory (hardback) -- Excellent! The ending is perhaps a bit "pat," and it's easy to see where David's going with it, but wow, talk about sudden changes in government!
  642. J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire -- Excellent! These really are as good as the hype.
  643. Patrick Robinson, H.M.S. Unseen -- very good techno-thriller. Characterization in some spots seemed a bit off....
  644. James P. Hogan, Star Child -- Excellent!
  645. Tom Clancy, Debt of Honor -- Excellent!
  646. Niven, Pournelle and Barnes, Beowulf's Children -- Very good to excellent. I'd read the prequel a long time ago; this one is a worthy successor. Only complaint is that the Star Born seemed to act a bit too rashly in spots.
  647. James P. Hogan, Minds, Machines and Evolution -- Excellent! His fictional short pieces are a bit hit-or-miss here, but his nonfiction pieces make up for them, particularly "Know Nukes," which any anti-nuclear activist should be required to read. :)
  648. Terry Pratchett, Carpe Jugulum -- Excellent! Quite a bit of action in this one, and the vampires are genuinely nasty. :) (British paperback)
  649. Terry Pratchett, Hogfather -- Excellent! (A re-read, to my surprise; I'd forgotten I'd read it :)
  650. David Weber, Echoes of Honor -- Excellent! As Anne McCaffrey puts it, "Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant!" Damnit, where's the next book?
  651. David Weber (ed.), More Than Honor -- Very good to excellent collection of stories. Finally, we get to see what happened on Haven during the Leveler Uprising!
  652. S.P. Somtow, Vanitas -- Very good. Not quite as compelling as the previous books in the series, though.
  653. David Gemmell, The Legend of Deathwalker -- Excellent!
  654. David Gemmell, Waylander -- Excellent!
  655. Alfred Lansing, Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage -- Excellent!. Incredible true story.
  656. David Gemmell, Druss the Legend -- Excellent!
  657. J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban -- Excellent! These really are as delightful as you've heard. Great kids' books but fun for adults as well.
  658. J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets -- Excellent!
  659. J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone -- Excellent!
  660. S.P. Somtow, Vampire Junction -- Very good to excellent!
  661. Patrick O'Brian, Blue at the Mizzen -- Excellent! If this is truly the end of the ride for Captain Aubrey and his particular friend Dr. Stephen Maturin, then it's been a great ride, for all love! O'Brian is the world's greatest living novelist and the world's best-ever historical novelist. :)
  662. David Weber, Honor Among Enemies -- Excellent!
  663. David Weber, Flag in Exile -- Excellent!
  664. David Weber, Field of Dishonor -- Excellent!
  665. David Weber, The Short Victorious War -- Excellent!
  666. David Weber, The Honor of the Queen -- Excellent! Always love a good military space/SF tale!
  667. Tom Clancy, Rainbow Six -- Excellent! I've skipped a few of these in the meantime, oops, but I'll remedy that shortly. It's kinda weird picking the series up after a few books and wondering how the hell Jack Ryan got to be President -- not that he didn't deserve it.....
  668. Sebastian Junger, The Perfect Storm -- Very good to excellent. The only weak point: we really don't quite know -how- Andrea Gail sank, or when. Otherwise, a great book. (recommended by a co-worker, Jim McGoldrick; thanks Jim!)
  669. S.P. Somtow (Somtow Suchariktul), Valentine -- Very good. I'd have enjoyed this one more had I read its prequel Vampire Junction. A bit silly in parts but overall very good.
  670. David Gemmell, In the Realm of the Wolf -- Very good. This one also, I should have preceded with its prequels. I'll have to find them soonly. :)
  671. Storm Constantine, Sea Dragon Heir -- Excellent! First book of a new trilogy which Tor Books has (finally!) picked up for publication in the States after a long Storm drought. Only caveat I have is that, like most first books in a trilogy, it has a slightly less-than-complete ending...but them again, the first and last Wraeththu books had similar endings and they're still terrific. :) This is the British edition from Gollancz, kindly sent to me by Storm, in exchange for good incense which we apparently have at better prices here in the States. :) .
  672. Storm Constantine, The Thorn Boy -- Excellent. This is a quite racy short-novel published in Australia -- homoerotic, but that shouldn't dissuade anyone who's read Storm's best stuff in the past, either. Kindly sent to me by Storm as part of the incense trade. :)
  673. Terry Pratchett, Maskerade -- Excellent! I somehow managed to bypass this one when it came out.
  674. Michael Moorcock, The War Amongst the Angels -- Good. Has one of the slowest starts of ANY book I've ever read (the first c. 35 pages are all exposition and no dialogue, period), but the middle and ending tighten up a lot.
  675. Storm Constantine, The Oracle Lips -- Very good to excellent. This is a story collection and although some aren't great, most of them are. :) Published (and kindly sent to me gratis) by Stark House, which is quite ironic considering I've just read two books by George R.R. Martin featuring "House Stark." :)
  676. Storm Constantine, Thin Air -- Very good! A contemporary dark fantasy/horror crossover, with some neet concepts. Kindly sent to me by Storm from the UK.
  677. George "Railroad" Martin, A Clash of Kings -- excellent! Easily the best new fantasy series I've started in the last year.
  678. George "Railroad" Martin, A Game Of Thrones -- excellent! Great start to a fantasy series, now I have to go buy book two. :)
  679. David Brin, Infinity's Shore -- Very good! The only problem is the reallllly fuckin' annoying abrupt ending. Worse, there's a sizeable glossary and such in the back, so you come upon the end with no warning. Aggh!
  680. Terry Pratchett, Jingo -- Very good! Gotta love the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, an inspiration to police officers everywhere. :)
  681. David Weber, On Basilisk Station -- Excellent! I'll have to get more of these. Much like C.S. Forester/Horatio Hornblower in space, these are a bit better than David Feintuch's Midshipman's Hope series.
  682. Terry Goodkind, Temple Of The Winds -- excellent again! Can't wait for book 5, now. :)
  683. Terry Goodkind, Blood of the Fold -- Excellent again!
  684. Terry Goodkind, Stone of Tears -- Excellent again! I'm very happy now to have discovered his Sword of Truth series.
  685. Patrick O'Brian, The Hundred Days -- very good. Two important character deaths didn't seem to be handled too expressively by O'Brian, whose real last name, we now discover, is actually Russ. If you're gonna kill someone off, at least use it as fodder for the main characters to deal with.... This is apparently the second to last book in this outstanding, landmark series. Highly recommended!
  686. Robert Jordan, Path of Daggers (hardback) -- Very good, although the standard disclaimer applies: couldn't we have accomplished this in about half the pages with less "fluff"?
  687. Robert Jordan, Crown of Swords -- reread the last fourth of the book to get reacquainted with Jordan's infamously complex plotting. :)
  688. Terry Goodkind, Wizard's First Rule -- Excellent! I'm looking forward to reading the rest of this fantasy series. Thanks to several friends who recommended him to me!
  689. Tom Cool, Secret Realms -- Good. This was a gift from the author himself (we shared a cab back to BWI from Worldcon in Baltimore in August). Much like Ender's Game plot-wise, but there are unique wrinkles here. Some parts were a bit "pat" and the proofreader at Tor wasn't too hot. :)
  690. Tom Clancy, The Sum Of All Fears -- Excellent! No-one does it like Clancy does.
  691. Elizabeth Moon, The Legacy of Gird -- Excellent! Trade-paperback prequel to The Deed of Paksennarion.
  692. Terry Pratchett, Interesting Times -- Excellent! Much better than Feet of Clay; indeed, this is the best Discworld novel in a couple of years!
  693. David Brin, Brightness Reef -- Excellent, but there is no discrete ending. Oh, well; the next book is also out in paperback. :)
  694. Larry Niven, Destiny's Road -- Excellent, although the ending lacks a bit of "punch." Great concept work here, reminiscent of John Myers Myers' legendary Silverlock.
  695. Michael Moorcock, Fabulous Harbors (story collection) -- uneven, but generally better than I expected.
  696. Linda Nagata, The Bohr Maker -- Good. Some of her details seem a bit on the "SF for SF's sake, damnit!" side, but otherwise this is fine. Some fun with gender roles, here, too.
  697. Harry Turtledove, Worldwar: Striking the Balance -- Excellent. Great series!
  698. PADI Open Water Diving Manual. A gift from a diver concerned about my "underwater coke bottle" scuba-tank page. Someday I'll take lessons. Came with its nifty recreational dive table, of course.
  699. Terry Pratchett, The Carpet People -- Very good. Co-written with Terry Pratchett, age 17.
  700. Terry Pratchett, Hogfather -- excellent!
  701. Final Truth: The Autobiography of Mass Murderer and Serial Killer Donald "Pee Wee" Gaskins -- Unquestionably the most chilling -- and yet, oddly engaging -- book I've ever read. Not for the squeamish.
  702. Harry Turtledove, World War: Upsetting the Balance -- Excellent! This is really good alternate-history stuff. It's 1941. World War II is raging full-force -- and at that moment, a powerful, advanced alien invasion force enters the fray....
  703. Harry Turtledove, World War: Tilting the Balance -- Good to excellent!
  704. Harry Turtledove, World War: In the Balance -- Good to excellent!
  705. Patrick O'Brian, The Unknown Shore -- excellent! Ahh, it's great to "ship out" once again under the watchful, expert eye of Mr. O'Brian, a right capital seaman and one of the world's finest living writers. This book describes the same real-life journey as in his excellent The Golden Ocean, but from the perspective of two characters who weren't quite as lucky.....
  706. Storm Constantine, Three Heralds of the Storm (3-story chapbook) -- Good. This little tome was dedicated to me. :)
  707. Mary Rosenblum, Stone Garden -- Very good. Same-sex and hetero relationships of all kinds here, refreshingly portrayed in a decent SF setting.
  708. David Gemmell, The King Beyond the Gate -- Very good. Sequel to Legend, this book is almost as good. Oddly enough I had read it a while back but had forgotten all the details, prompting me to think I had started reading it and lost it before I could finish. As I read the book, I kept experiencing deja vu and when I got to the end, I realized that I had actually finished it at some point but had flagged it as "lost, unfinished" in my memory. Really weird feeling!
  709. Janny Wurts, Master of White Storm -- Pretty good. Although the adventures of the main character are interesting, it seemed to me the ending lacked some luster; maybe he could have exacted some revenge on the slavers who'd enslaved him back in the beginning....
  710. Storm Constantine, Stealing Sacred Fire -- Excellent! Third in the Grigori trilogy, this is the widest-ranging, most ambitious book in the series by far. It really makes me start thinking about travel plans for the New Millenium. :)
  711. Clive Barker, The Great and Secret Show -- very good, weird and twisted, though not quite as compelling as Imajica was.
  712. J. Gregory Keyes, The Waterborn -- Excellent debut fantasy novel.
  713. Michael Moorcock, Tales From the Texas Woods -- Very good. Surprisingly I enjoyed the "historical" stories the most, some Westerns (one old, one new) and a Sherlock Holmes adventure.
  714. Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay -- Very good. Not quite as fun as most of Terry's Discworld books, but still quite enjoyable.
  715. Larry Niven, The Ringworld Throne -- Very good. I actually reread this again 'cause I got a bit confused at the end. Still, it's better than I expected from unfavorable online reviews.
  716. Patrick O'Brian, The Golden Ocean -- Excellent! This is perhaps a bit more accessible than his Aubrey/Maturin series since it's self-contained, and it has at least as much, maybe more, dry humor.
  717. L. Ron Hubbard, Ole Doc Methuselah -- Only fair, and now quite dated. Some of the SF is still a bit too "gosh-wow."
  718. Storm Constantine, "Paragenesis" -- Excellent! A beginnings-of-Wraeththu short story, to be published in the forthcoming Crow anthology!
  719. C.S. Forester, The Good Shepherd -- Excellent WW II-era depiction of escorts protecting a convoy from U-boats.
  720. Rex Miller, Spike Team -- manuscript for 23,000-word novella that needed lots of cutting (or better yet, burial). A freelance editing assignment; frankly, this stank.
  721. Michael McCollum, The Sails of Tau Ceti -- Good, but a bit clunky.
  722. Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies -- Great!
  723. Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms -- Great!
  724. Larry Niven, Flatlander -- very good to excellent stories.
  725. Raymond Feist, Rage of a Demon King -- Excellent! Doesn't end like the third book in a trilogy, either....
  726. Michael Moorcock, Blood -- A Southern Fantasy -- Good, although MM's take on racism in the South is more than a little disturbing.
  727. Michael Moorcock, Lunching With the Antichrist -- Some stories good, some fair.
  728. Elizabeth Moon, The Deed of Paksennarion -- Excellent! A look at life in a mercenary company. Good, strong female lead character.
  729. Clive Barker, Imajica -- Outstanding! This would make a terrific film!
  730. Christopher Priest, Indoctrinaire -- Very good. An old book but not too dated. Weird going for a long time, but it finally sorts out. Sad ending, though.
  731. Storm Constantine, Aleph -- Very good! Sequel to Monstrous Regiment
  732. Storm Constantine, The Monstrous Regiment -- Very good; much better than I thought it would be from the back-cover blurb and online comments.
  733. Rob Wyche, Alien -- A co-worker's manuscript; needs a lot of work.
  734. Yvonne Navarro, Afterage -- Very good. I might have saved a few more of the main characters, but hey, it's horror. :) For a debut novel, it's excellent.
  735. Allan Cole & Chris Bunch, The Far Kingdoms -- Good. A bit clunky in spots and I think the characterization was a bit off, but not bad.
  736. James P. Hogan, Endgame Enigma -- Very good; better than I was expecting. Still like his straight SF better, though. :)
  737. Dean King et al., Harbors and High Seas [nonfiction] -- Good reference
  738. Storm Constantine, Scenting Hallowed Blood -- Excellent! Sequel to the also-excellent Stalking Tender Prey; second in her Grigori trilogy about angels on Earth after the Fall. These books will finally be published in the States in 1998 by Meisha Merlin Publishers.
  739. Patrick O'Brian, The Yellow Admiral (hardback) -- Excellent!
  740. Storm Constantine, Sign for the Sacred -- Very good! Much better than the back-cover blurb had me thinking! Many of Storm's books feature characters with mesmerizing charisma; Resenence Jeopardy from this book is one of them.
  741. Tad Williams, To Green Angel Tower Part 2 -- Excellent! I was quite impressed with this series, and it now ranks among the best fantasy series I've read -- and I'm not exactly untraveled in that department. :)
  742. Tad Williams, To Green Angel Tower Part 1 -- Excellent!
  743. Tad Williams, The Stone of Farewell -- Excellent!
  744. Robert L. Forward and Julie Forward Fuller, Rescued From Paradise -- good, but sometimes drags into a technical lecture at the expense of the plot and the characters.
  745. Tad Williams, The Dragonbone Chair -- Excellent!
  746. Terry Pratchett, F/a/u/s/t/ Eric -- Excellent. Funny as usual for Pratchett, but just a bit too short. Nice to see the return of the Luggage. :)
  747. David Brin, Glory Season -- Excellent, although the bittersweet ending lacks a bit.
  748. Raymond E. Feist, Rise of a Merchant Prince -- Very good. Not as world-shaking as the preceding book but then again, I knew it wouldn't be when I started. :)
  749. Mercedes Lackey, The Eagle and the Nightingales -- Fair. Her target for preaching seems to be big-business this time around, and the ending and the culprit were telegraphed a mile away. The rather pat solution to the Church's unhealthy involvement in Book 2 was disappointing, too.
  750. Robert Jordan, A Crown of Swords -- Excellent. A bit slow starting out of the gate, but at the end of this one we reealllly feel the bite of knowing it'll be a year before the next one!
  751. Storm Constantine, "Remedy of the Bane," Realms of Fantasy August 1996 -- good short-story. I've been missing out. :)
  752. Mercedes Lackey, The Robin and the Kestrel -- Good, although a little preachy and there's way too many italics.
  753. James P. Hogan, Out of Time -- Fair. Cookie-cutter characters, and it's way too short for the price.
  754. James P. Hogan, The Immortality Option. -- Good, although a bit corny in parts (goes a bit too far for the occasional pun).
  755. Michael McCollum, Procyon's Promise -- Good. (reread)
  756. Patrick O'Brian, The Rendezvous -- short stories, variable in quality.
  757. Storm Constantine, Stalking Tender Prey -- Excellent! It's either dark fantasy or horror, but great either way.
  758. Patrick O'Brian, The Commodore -- Excellent!
  759. Mercedes Lackey, Storm Warning -- Very good, but she uses so many italics. You can tell a woman is writing these.
  760. Patrick O'Brian, The Wine-Dark Sea -- Very good!
  761. Patrick O'Brian, The Truelove -- Excellent!
  762. David Feintuch, Fisherman's Hope -- Excellent. The end to this trilogy, but the series was extended. Guess the money was too green for David F.
  763. David Feintuch, Prisoner's Hope -- Very good (reread)
  764. Patrick O'Brian, The Nutmeg of Consolation -- Excellent!
  765. Patrick O'Brian, The Thirteen-Gun Salute -- Excellent!
  766. Patrick O'Brian, The Letter of Marque -- Excellent!
  767. Patrick O'Brian, The Reverse of the Medal -- Excellent!
  768. Patrick O'Brian, The Far Side of the World -- Excellent!
  769. Patrick O'Brian, Treason's Harbor -- Excellent!
  770. Anne McCaffrey, The Dolphins of Pern -- Good.
  771. Patrick O'Brian, The Ionian Mission -- Excellent!
  772. Patrick O'Brian, The Surgeon's Mate -- Excellent!
  773. Patrick O'Brian, The Fortune of War -- Excellent!
  774. Patrick O'Brian, Desolation Island -- Excellent!
  775. Patrick O'Brian, The Mauritius Command -- Excellent!
  776. Patrick O'Brian, HMS Surprise -- Excellent!
  777. Patrick O'Brian, Post-Captain -- Excellent!
  778. Patrick O'Brian, Master and Commander -- excellent! This historical novel (British age of fighting sail) begins the mighty Aubrey/Maturin series.
  779. Terry Pratchett, Soul Music -- Very good.
  780. David Feintuch, Prisoner's Hope -- Very good. Yet more Horatio Hornblower and Jack Aubrey in space. :)
  781. David Gemmell, The King Beyond the Gate -- Very good sequel to Legend.
  782. Pratchett and Gaiman, Good Omens -- Excellent!
  783. Robert Rankin, The Book of Ultimate Truths -- Excellent!
  784. Philip K. Dick, Galactic Pot-Healer -- good, quirky SF from a master.
  785. Vernor Vinge, The Witling -- Very good to excellent. Better than I was led to expect!
  786. Barbara Hambly, Those Who Hunt the Night -- Good, though with one faux-pas.
  787. Keith Laumer, Retief: Emissary to the Stars -- Good.
  788. David Feintuch, Challenger's Hope -- Very good.
  789. Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash -- Very good, but it has a rushed ending.
  790. David Gemmell, Legend -- Very good. A freebie at Dragon*Con, and glad I am of it.
  791. Terry Pratchett, Small Gods -- Excellent!
  792. Michael McCollum, Antares Dawn -- Fair to good.
  793. Storm Constantine, Calenture -- Good (and delightfully weird). Floating cities and more fun.
  794. Robert Silverberg, The Mountains of Majipoor -- Disappointing. Too short, for starters.... Not a worthy continuation of one of my favorite series.
  795. Judith Tarr, Throne of Isis -- Very Good.
  796. Clifford Stoll, Silicon Snake Oil -- Excellent! Cliff's views are guaranteed to be annoying to devoted netheads, but he makes ya think. The Atlanta paper recently printed a letter I sent to them making the same points that Cliff does in his book and live presentations.
  797. Robert Jordan, Lord of Chaos -- Excellent!
  798. Robert Jordan, The Fires of Heaven (re-read) -- Very Good
  799. David Feintuch, Midshipman's Hope -- Excellent! Horatio Hornblower or Jack Aubrey in space.
  800. Storm Constantine, Wraeththu -- (reread) Excellent!
  801. Glen Cook, Swordbearer -- Disappointing! Seemingly a cheap pastiche of Moorcock's soulstealing Stormbringer stories, and poorly-written in spots: referring to a demons' convention in the middle of a fantasy book is a good way to drop me out of suspension-of-disbelief.
  802. Tom Clancy, Without Remorse -- Very Good.
  803. Storm Constantine, Hermetech -- Very Good. Her first book after Wraeththu, this one also features some delightful blurring of traditional sexual roles, this time in a well-imagined SF setting.
  804. Storm Constantine, Burying the Shadow -- Excellent! A more-adult version of the vampire myth, well-crafted.
  805. Mark Shepherd, Elvendude -- Good. "Elves in the mall." Well, cool, especially if they're cute. :)
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