Book Log #33: The House on Mango Street

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The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros [Little Shop of Stories, $11.00]

My son’s 8th grade reading list may prove a fruitful ground for good books. This is a riveting short collection of vignettes about the coming of age of a young hispanic girl. File it under less is more, the author manages to pack a lot of meaning in a page and a half. Both whimsical and touching, this book makes for a nice evening’s read.

And now I can talk intelligently with my son about his homework.

Week 34
Book 33
Having squandered by big lead from the beginning of the year, we have now fallen below the 1:1 parity of books:weeks. No more Bleak House sized books for me!

Book Log #32: The Time Traveler’s Almanac

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The Time Traveler’s Almanac by Ann VanderMeer, Jeff VanderMeer [Amazon, Kindle, $12.99]

If one is trying to complete 52 books in 52 weeks, then The Time Traveler’s Almanac, like Bleak House, is not a good choice. It is quite a tome, though I didn’t realize it since I was reading in Kindle form. The paperback version is 960 pages.

HOWEVER, if one is looking for a really fantastic compilation of time travel short stories, then this book is the bomb. Each story was a fresh perspective, most were extremely well written and engaging. The editing was superb, as each story was fresh and different than the one before.

Really enjoyable.

Book Log #31: The Girl in the Spider’s Web

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The Girl in the Spider’s Web: A Lisbeth Salander novel, continuing Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Series Paperback – by David Lagercrantz (Author) [Little Shop of Stories, paperback]

As it goes, the fourth book in the series. I remember reading that he had worked on the fifth book in the series, and possibly the sixth, before he had died. There was all sorts of controversy and rumor, the girlfriend denies there was any further plans for the series.

At any rate, this was an okay continuation. It’s not as good, and no where near enough of the title character Salander. But there’s an evil twin sister of Salander introduced, and it kind of feels like this was a filler novel before getting to the plot Stieg started for the fifth book.

Basically, as good as one has any reason to suspect.

Book Log #29: Altered Carbon

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Altered Carbon (Takeshi Kovacs Novels) by Morgan, Richard K. [Amazon, paperback, $11.76]

The second book of this series was recommended by Curt, and I got there eventually. But I like to read in order, so I went to the beginning.

Great Sci-Fi. Little bit too much macho-man, indestructible, film-noir, detective-like killing machine in there, but the world building was good enough to forgive the slight cheesiness.

Book Log #27: The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made

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The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made by Greg Sestero, Tom Bissell [Amazon, Kindle, $11.99]

Fantastic non-fiction on the behind the scenes making of a movie I have never seen. I… still haven’t decided if I want to see it or not. Because I’m kind of scared.

But the character sketch of the creator is compelling, and sad, and riveting. Glad I read about it, even if I never bring myself to see it.