Catching Up
Wow. It’s been a bit, huh?
The past few weeks have been pretty hectic. Work has been busy, my evenings have been occupied, and I was out of town for a bit. Add to that some server updates that were needed to keep the blog running and I’ve missed quite a bit of writing. But, thankfully, Dan not writing is not the same as Dan not reading…which I certainly have been.
Even though I’ve been motivated enough to keep reading, I’m way too lazy to write up the five or six posts that are needed to keep up with the cadence I previously established. So, for expediency’s sake, I will write one large post to recap the three(!) books I’ve finished since my last entry. These will be shorter reviews, but I’ll deliver my thoughts on each.
Dark Matter, by Blake Crouch: I picked this one up (on sale, of course) after reading Crouch’s “Wayward Pines” series. That series was decent and made for a quick read, so I hoped for more of the same with this one. Here we have some trippy sci-fi which deals with some pretty heavy content when you step back and think about it. I’m not going to get into a ton of detail here, because I am going to suggest that you check this one out. A super quick read and a neat subject matter. 4/5
City, by Clifford Simak: This is old science-fiction, which is always hit or miss for me. I purchased this book because the premise sounded interesting – it is a collection of stories told by dogs about the end of human civilization. It started off a little slow, but the stories were pretty engaging and expressed some interesting ideas. I found myself liking this a lot more than I have some other “classic” sci-fi that I’ve read recently.
This also made me realize that my rating of “3” is pretty broad. I certainly liked this more than I have some of the other books that I’ve rated a three, but it still wasn’t enough to push it to a “4”. Might recommend to the right reader, but it’s not for everyone. 3/5
Change Agent, by Daniel Suarez: Much like Dark Matter, I picked this one up because I really enjoyed another of the author’s novels, Influx. Even though my exposure to Suarez’s books is limited, I was expecting this one to read like an action movie. I was not disappointed. Call it a page turner, call it a beach read, call it whatever you like, but this one kept me “turning” pages until I finished. It was a solid story with some interesting characters and a pretty decent finish. Recommended if you like a sci-fi suspense thriller. 4/5
That brings us up to date as far as reviews go, so let’s take a brief minute to talk about the book I’m currently reading, which is Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrel by Susanna Clarke
Why I Purchased This Book: Just about everyone I know that’s read this book has loved it. I’ve owned the hard copy for a long time and then the Kindle version went on sale for $1.99 I decided to have a version that was easier to travel with.
Why I Haven’t Read This Book: Well, it’s massive and intimidating. I’ve been worried that if I start it that’s all I will read for months.
How Am I Feeling About Reading This Book: I’m four or so chapters in and I’m really enjoying it so far. Because I have some car time coming up in the next week or two I picked up the audiobook so I can listen in the car and cut down the time.