So, I’ve fallen way, way behind in my book logging.

I blame the Kindle.  It used to be I read a physical book, then I dropped it by my computer to remind myself to write a post about it.  But you can’t do that with a Kindle.  So I’m going to shorthand some commentary here…

1. Mercury Falls by Robert Kroese
Fine, amusing book about bureaucratic angels and armageddon.

2. Mercury Swings by Robert Kroese
Not a book, but a short story, I believe it was a bridge between Mercury Falls and Mercury Rises.  Its kind of run together in my head.

3. Mercury Rises by Robert Kroese
The continuation/completion of the Mercury series.  Mr. Kroese is a fine writer, not a great writer.  He’s a better writer than I am.  Worth a read.

4. A Clash of Kings: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book Two by George R.R. Martin
5. A Storm of Swords: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book Three by George R.R. Martin
6. A Feast for Crows: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book Four by George R.R. Martin
Okay, I didn’t think I would, but I got caught up in these. The characters are compelling, and the author is not afraid of killing off ones you like. He can afford to… he’s got like 1,000 of them to keep track of.

7. You Are Not So Smart by David McRaney
This deserved more discussion, but it’s been so long since I read it, I can’t remember what I wanted to say about it. Other than, it points out our mental foibles and cites some interesting studies into the human brain. Some stuff I’ve heard about, but lots of it new to me.

God, No! by Pen Jillette

Pen Jillette is an asshole.

And I mean that in the nicest way possible.  He is the kind of asshole that every society needs.  Irreverant, brusque, and very direct in what he says.  There’s a lot of opinion about atheism and religion, of course, but there’s more to it, and many amusing stories of being a Las Vegas performer slipped in.

He’s good to have because even if you disagree with him (and a few times I did), he definitely makes you consider why you disagree with him.  At times, I thought I disagreed, but after thinking it through, I had to admit that he really wasn’t wrong.

It’s a thought-provoking and amusing, if scattershot, book.  I recommend it.

If it has a flaw, it’s that he tends to repeat himself.  By which I mean, he’ll reiterate what he says a lot by repeating it.  If he says something again and again, I have to believe it is for emphasis.  He gets his point across, through repitition, and perhaps extends his word count.  But maybe repeating himself, which he does often by rephrasing the same concept, is an effective persuasion technique.  Because hearing it again and again, because he writes things over and over, maybe you’ll really have to consider what he’s saying before you can move on to the next thought.

Also, Pen apparently knows a lot of strippers.

Falling behind isn’t the name of a book, it’s my state of being.

There are obvious upsides and downsides to a Kindle.

On the upsides, I’m getting a lot more reading done, and I love the e-Ink screen. The light on the case makes it easy to read while putting the kids to sleep without searching for my always missing flashlight or book cliplight. The Kindle’s always with me, at work, in the car, whereever. If I’ve got 5 minutes to kill, I’ve got a good way to kill it handy.

The downsides are primarily that I’m a little too Amazon-centric as it is, and it is Way Too Easy to buy a book. I’m going to reign that in. Really.

But also, I fall behind in this blog.

So I’m making some notes on recently read books I need to write about:

God, No! by Pen Jillette
Rhubarb by M.H. Van Keuren (I really want to talk abou this one)
You Are Not So Smart by David McRaney

All three of these deserve more than a paragraph of commentary, so… until there is time, there they’ll sit.

A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book One by R.R. Martin

I need to be more prompt on writing these. It’s been several weeks since I finished GoT and I’m trying to remember what I thought about it…

It’s good. It’s above average fantasy, not that I’m an expert on fantasy. What have I read? Some Piers Anthony a lifetime ago… the Myth Adventures series… Spellsinger series… Thieves World series… Discworld… these are all mostly Goofy Fantasy, if that’s a term.

So I’m not an aficionado. But GoT is good, it has some interesting characters. The dwarf, who is not a Dwarf, but actually a human of small stature, kind of made this worth it. He had a sense of humor, and didn’t take himself too seriously, which characters in fantasy novels tend to do. The tomboy princess was also fun.

I don’t know if I’ll keep going with the series. I’m not dying to find out what happens, but the journey is enjoyable enough I might check in on it now and then.

Restaurant Success by the Numbers: A Money-Guy’s Guide to Opening the Next Hot Spot by Roger Fields

We recently invested in a start-up restaurant, so I wanted an overview of the business. There’s some good detail in here on budgeting and other numbers games, which was what I’m interested in.

I think if I were actually the one starting and running the restaurant, this book would be inadequate. But, as a beginner’s intro, it’s pretty solid.

Also, people who work in restaurants are paid terribly, if his sample budgets are to be believed. So, remember to tip your servers! I’ll be here all week!

Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games Trilogy) by Suzanne Collins
Mockingjay (The Final Book of the Hunger Games Trilogy) by Suzanne Collins

They’re good, these books.

I should have waited until April and May, when I could “borrow” them for free from the Amazon Lending Library. But sometimes you just need to know how the story turns out.

The story has great rhythm, never dilly-dallying with useless preamble. The plot flows smoothly from point to point, maintaining tension, plausibility and unpredictability.

Imagine my surprise when I found out this was a Young Adult series. I fell for this with Pratchett’s The Wee Free Men, reading along thinking myself an Old Adult.

It’s Harry Potter that’s done this… blurred the line between Old Adult and Young Adult. Now I’m reading Slam and Hat Full of Sky and not even realizing that my development has been arrested. Or something.

Or maybe it’s just time that Young Adults got something worth reading. Something Adult, but only just.

And now I’m just looking to fill that end-of-a-good-series inner void with something decent. I’m not up to switching gears suddenly back to Dickens. Will the Game of Thrones series suffice? For some reason I’m associating the two.

We’ll see.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

So, I discovered the Lending Library of Amazon. There’s over 100,000 titles you can just read for free with a Kindle and a Prime membership. You can borrow one at a time, once a month.

I haven’t figured out how to return it though. I expect that will be made clear at some point. Maybe it just disappears off the Kindle.

But I hadn’t found a book to read, until I was thumbing my wish list and noticed The Hunger Games. I’m usually skeptical of bestsellers, because of what I’m calling the “Clive Cussler Syndrome”, which is when authors put out a lot of really crappy books that just get magnetized to the NYT Bestseller list for an unknown reason.

I’m willing to accept that the crappiness may just be my perception. But only just.

At any rate, I figured I should check it out before the movie comes out. There were enough raves of The Hunger Games from people I actually know that I took a chance. A small chance, since… it’s free.

It’s a good book. Well crafted, not sentimental, not overly dramatic… just right. It draws you in and there’s no real good point to take a break and stop reading.

I just watched the trailer for the movie. I don’t know how it’ll fly… there’s a lot of inner thought going on that may just not translate to the screen.

We’ll see.