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I’ve knocked out 2 books recently. Big deal!

The first one was The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. I became interested in it because the movie is coming out in December and Peter Jackson made the movie. The story starts in 1973 and it’s about a teenage girl that was raped and murdered by a neighbor. She’s up in her own personalized heaven, which she calls “my heaven”, and watches over her family and her killer over the next several years. She can’t directly affect anything on Earth, but there are times when people see her or feel that she’s near. The book is mostly about her family and friends as they deal with their grief over losing her. It’s very melancholy at times. It’s a pretty good book, but I’ll probably like watching as a movie more than liked reading the book.

The second one was Rollback by Robert J. Sawyer. Sawyer is the guy that wrote Flashforward. For some reason I thought this was a sequel to Flashforward, but it’s not. It takes place about 40 years in the future. In 2009 (their past), we received a transmission from aliens and we sent a response. This book is centered on the response they sent to our response. An extremely rich guy, who is a major benefactor to SETI, wants the woman who translated the original message to work on the new message. She and her husband are in their 80s now and don’t think they have much time left. The benefactor pays for her and her husband to have a rejuvenation procedure, which is called a “rollback”. They decide to reverse their bodies back to age 25. The procedure works for her husband and not for her. The book focuses on her struggling to decrypt the code and him trying to adjust to being young again while having a much older wife. You do see a lot of flashbacks to back when she was working on the original 2009 message. I didn’t like those parts as much. It’s a pretty good book overall. Short and sweet.

• Joe Abercrombie, The Blade Itself
• Joe Abercrombie, Before They Are Hanged
• Joe Abercrombie, Last Argument of Kings
• World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, Max Brooks
• Serenity Found, Jane Espenson
• The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
• Memoirs Found in a Bathtub, Stanislaw Lem
• The Stormcaller, Tom Lloyd
• The Day Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Twilight Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Final Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• Inside Straight, George R.R. Martin
• Busted Flush, George R.R. Martin
• The Final Crusade, Chaite Naasiri
• The Darker Mask, George Phillips
• Unholy Domain, Dan Ronco
• The Tales of Beedle the Bard, J.K. Rowling
• The Final Empire, Brandon Sanderson
• The Well of Ascension, Brandon Sanderson
• The Hero of Ages, Brandon Sanderson
• The Gathering Storm, Brandon Sanderson
• Flashfoward, Robert J. Sawyer
• Flashfoward, Robert J. Sawyer
• The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
• Titus Andronicus, William Shakespeare

I recently read the latest Sword and Laser pick: The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. The main character, William Mandella is part of an elite group of an elite group of soldiers that are sent into war again an alien race called the Taurans. The story starts when he’s about to go into training and ends after the end of the war.

This book was written back in 1974. There are parallels between the war in the book and the Vietnam War. I can see the statement that he’s trying, but I think all of that would’ve had a bigger impact on me if I read it when I was a little more politically frustrated.

I like that these old school scifi books take time dilation into account. Since people are out in space traveling at or near the speed of light, they experience time differently than the people on Earth. It has something to do with Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. Over the course of the book, the main character ages only a few years, but over 1100 years pass by on Earth. You get glimpses into society on future Earth. Crime gets worse. There’s big time inflation and calories become the only currency on the planet. I think that changes later, but I’m not sure. At one point, almost everyone is gay and straight people are seen as deviants. The government encourages this to keep the population in control. Only when someone dies is another person created in a test tube. Most of the soldiers that survive the military campaigns don’t want to go back home because everything has changed so much. Very interesting.

Anyway, it’s a great book and I recommend giving it a read. Is there any point in keeping a list anymore since I haven’t really been following?

• Joe Abercrombie, The Blade Itself
• Joe Abercrombie, Before They Are Hanged
• Joe Abercrombie, Last Argument of Kings
• World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, Max Brooks
• Serenity Found, Jane Espenson
• On Bullshit, Harry G. Frankfurt
• On Truth, Harry G. Frankfurt
• The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
• Memoirs Found in a Bathtub, Stanislaw Lem
• The Stormcaller, Tom Lloyd
• The Day Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Twilight Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Final Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• Inside Straight, George R.R. Martin
• Busted Flush, George R.R. Martin
• The Final Crusade, Chaite Naasiri
• The Darker Mask, George Phillips
• Unholy Domain, Dan Ronco
• The Tales of Beedle the Bard, J.K. Rowling
• The Final Empire, Brandon Sanderson
• The Well of Ascension, Brandon Sanderson
• The Hero of Ages, Brandon Sanderson
• A Memory of Light: The Gathering Storm, Brandon Sanderson
• Flashfoward, Robert J. Sawyer
• The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
• Titus Andronicus, William Shakespeare

I first became interested in Flashfoward by Robert J. Sawyer when I heard that it was going to be made into a TV series on ABC this fall. I heard that it was a good book and wanted to read it before the series came on.

Real life for a minute: Have you heard about the Large Hadron Collider over in Europe? It was supposed to go online last year, but didn’t because of some technical issue. The purpose of the device is to create conditions that existed shortly after the big bang so they can observe some kind of particle. Some people were concerned about this experiment because they feared it could create a black hole that would cause the end of the world. If you haven’t heard about the LHC, you can read about it here.

Back to the book: it was written in 1999, but it’s set in 2009. A group of scientists are firing up the Large Hadron Collider. At the exact second that the experiment starts, everyone blacks out. By everyone I mean the entire planet. The blackout lasts for 2 minutes. During this time everyone gets a 2 minute glimpse into their own future in the year 2030.

There was some chaos caused by the incident. People blacking out behind the wheel, pilots blacking out in the air, etc. Some were upset by the damage caused and the lives lost. For the most part, however, the world was happy to have had the visions. Some saw stuff in the future that they didn’t like and of course wanted to change it. There was a lot of debate about whether everyone saw a possible future or a fixed future. That debate gets resolved later in the book. Eventually, the scientists were able to figure out exactly how it happened.

There were a few times when the book briefly got bogged down in physics, but I just glossed over those sections. I hate physics. Overall, it would a great book and I recommend it to scifi fans. I’m even more excited about the TV series now.

• World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, Max Brooks
• Serenity Found, Jane Espenson
• On Bullshit, Harry G. Frankfurt
• On Truth, Harry G. Frankfurt
• Memoirs Found in a Bathtub, Stanislaw Lem
• The Stormcaller, Tom Lloyd
• The Day Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Twilight Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Final Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• Inside Straight, George R.R. Martin
• Busted Flush, George R.R. Martin
• The Final Crusade, Chaite Naasiri
• The Darker Mask, George Phillips
• Unholy Domain, Dan Ronco
• The Tales of Beedle the Bard, J.K. Rowling
• The Final Empire, Brandon Sanderson
• The Well of Ascension, Brandon Sanderson
• The Hero of Ages, Brandon Sanderson
• A Memory of Light: The Gathering Storm, Brandon Sanderson
• Flashfoward, Robert J. Sawyer
• Titus Andronicus, William Shakespeare

The other day I readThe Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling. If you read the 7th Harry Potter book, you might remember that Dumbledore left Hermione a copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard and it contained clues on that were helpful to her, Harry, and Ron on their mission.

It consists of 5 fairy tales for wizard children. It’s pretty short and I even I could read it in 1 sitting. The book doesn’t really add anything to the Harry Potter story that you couldn’t gain from reading the 7th Potter book. I guess it’s mostly for completists like me. Each story does have notes from Dumbledore, which are interesting to read. The author is donating all the proceeds to charity, so I don’t feel like she released this to make more money off Harry Potter.

• World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, Max Brooks
• Serenity Found, Jane Espenson
• On Bullshit, Harry G. Frankfurt
• On Truth, Harry G. Frankfurt
• Memoirs Found in a Bathtub, Stanislaw Lem
• The Stormcaller, Tom Lloyd
• The Day Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Twilight Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Final Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• Inside Straight, George R.R. Martin
• Busted Flush, George R.R. Martin
• The Final Crusade, Chaite Naasiri
• The Darker Mask, George Phillips
• Unholy Domain, Dan Ronco
• The Tales of Beedle the Bard, J.K. Rowling
• The Final Empire, Brandon Sanderson
• The Well of Ascension, Brandon Sanderson
• The Hero of Ages, Brandon Sanderson
• A Memory of Light: The Gathering Storm, Brandon Sanderson
• Flashfoward, Robert J. Sawyer
• Titus Andronicus, William Shakespeare

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks is pretty entertaining and thought provoking book. I like it more than most of the other books I’ve read recently.

This book is written as if it’s nonfiction. Apparently, there was a worldwide zombie outbreak that lasted 10 years and the book was written 10 years after the end of the outbreak. It tells the story of the zombie war through a collection of interviews with survivors. The interviewees come from all over the world. The story progresses from the first case of the zombie virus until the “present” when the world is still rebuilding.

I’m not expecting a zombie attack, but reading World War Z did make me wonder how we would handle a global catastrophe. In the book, the governments of the world made some costly mistakes. I hope we wouldn’t make those same mistakes.

• World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, Max Brooks
• Serenity Found, Jane Espenson
• On Bullshit, Harry G. Frankfurt
• On Truth, Harry G. Frankfurt
• Memoirs Found in a Bathtub, Stanislaw Lem
• The Stormcaller, Tom Lloyd
• The Day Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Twilight Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Final Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• Inside Straight, George R.R. Martin
• Busted Flush, George R.R. Martin
• The Final Crusade, Chaite Naasiri
• The Darker Mask, George Phillips
• Unholy Domain, Dan Ronco
• The Tales of Beedle the Bard, J.K. Rowling
• The Final Empire, Brandon Sanderson
• The Well of Ascension, Brandon Sanderson
• The Hero of Ages, Brandon Sanderson
• A Memory of Light: The Gathering Storm, Brandon Sanderson
• Flashfoward, Robert J. Sawyer
• Titus Andronicus, William Shakespeare

I read Inside Straight by George R.R. Martin a few months ago, but never got around to writing about. It seems like he’s never going to get around to finishing the next book in his A Song of Ice and Fire series, so I decided to read something else by him. Inside Straight is a part of the Wild Cards series. Each book is a collection of related stories written by various authors, and Martin serves as the editor.

The Wild Cards series reminds me a lot of what I’ve heard about the Dr. Who television series. It comes in cycles that last for a few books, then it goes away for a little while, then they bring it back for a while, etc. Inside Straight is the first book in the current cycle.

From what I’ve gathered, about 60 years ago an alien virus that was called the Wild Cards Virus came to Earth somehow. Some people were given superpowers, and they are called aces. Some were hideously deformed, and they are called jokers.

I should have really liked a book about superpowered people, but it was only ok. It focuses on a group of contestants on a reality show for people with superpowers. These people are using their powers in contests to decide who is going to be the next American Hero. There are tragic events going on in the news in Egypt and some of the contestants decide to do the right thing and be real-life heroes. Maybe if they hadn’t spent so much time on the reality show aspect of the story, I would have liked it more. I hate reality shows. It gets much more interesting at the end and I plan on reading the next book in the series.

I don’t think I’m going to get around to even half the books I wanted to read this year.

• World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, Max Brooks
• Serenity Found, Jane Espenson
• On Bullshit, Harry G. Frankfurt
• On Truth, Harry G. Frankfurt
• Memoirs Found in a Bathtub, Stanislaw Lem
• The Stormcaller, Tom Lloyd
• The Day Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Twilight Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Final Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• Inside Straight, George R.R. Martin
• Busted Flush, George R.R. Martin
• The Final Crusade, Chaite Naasiri
• The Darker Mask, George Phillips
• Unholy Domain, Dan Ronco
• The Final Empire, Brandon Sanderson
• The Well of Ascension, Brandon Sanderson
• The Hero of Ages, Brandon Sanderson
• A Memory of Light: The Gathering Storm, Brandon Sanderson
• Flashfoward, Robert J. Sawyer
• Titus Andronicus, William Shakespeare

I wanted to read Memoirs Found in a Bathtub by Stanislaw Lem because it was the latest selection by The Sword and Laser Podcast. I skipped their last 2 selections and really wanted to try this one. I tried. I tried. I tried. I got about 70 pages into it and quit. I decided to go ahead a finish it, but once I read another 2 or 3 pages I couldn’t do it anymore. I just hated it.

It takes place in 3149 after some kind of plight has destroyed most of the paper in the world. The book is basically somebody’s memoirs that were found preserved in volcanic rock. It’s a lot of gibberish and paranoia crap that I didn’t feel like reading. From what I’ve read, 1 of the Sword and Laser hosts didn’t like this book either.

The next Sword and Laser selection is The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan. I’ll be skipping it because I’ve already read it several times. Hoping that I like the next book that I try.

• Serenity Found, Jane Espenson
• On Bullshit, Harry G. Frankfurt
• On Truth, Harry G. Frankfurt
• Memoirs Found in a Bathtub, Stanislaw Lem
• The Stormcaller, Tom Lloyd
• The Day Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Twilight Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Final Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• Inside Straight, George R.R. Martin
• Busted Flush, George R.R. Martin
• The Final Crusade, Chaite Naasiri
• The Darker Mask, George Phillips
• Unholy Domain, Dan Ronco
• The Final Empire, Brandon Sanderson
• The Well of Ascension, Brandon Sanderson
• The Hero of Ages, Brandon Sanderson
• A Memory of Light, Brandon Sanderson
• Titus Andronicus, William Shakespeare

I recently made my way through Headcrash by Bruce Bethke. It was hard with the Olympics and dog stuff and whatever distractions I could come up with. Headcrash is a cyberpunk novel. The author is the person who came up with the term cyberpunk.

The VR elements of this book reminded me of Snow Crash. I liked this one a lot better, but I still wasn’t blown away. I guess cyberpunk just isn’t my thing. It’s a funny book and good satire. I liked how at the end it was making fun of authors like Tom Clancy and Michael Crichton, whose books I do like to read. Enjoyable book, but I’m ready for something else. Next I’ll be reading Watchmen.

• Headcrash, Bruce Bethke
• Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke
• Timeline, Michael Crichton
• Unshapely Things, Mark Del Franco
• Finding Serenity, Jane Espenson
• Serenity Found, Jane Espenson
• On Bullshit, Harry G. Frankfurt
• On Truth, Harry G. Frankfurt
• The Appeal, John Grisham
• Playing for Pizza, John Grisham
• The Taking, Dean Koontz
• Playing for Keeps, Mur Lafferty
• The Night Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Day Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Twilight Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Final Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
• His Majesty’s Dragon, Naomi Novik
• Throne of Jade, Naomi Novik
• Black Powder War, Naomi Novik
• Empire of Ivory, Naomi Novik
• Victory of Eagles, Naomi Novik
• Lyra’s Oxford, Philip Pullman
• Unholy Domain, Dan Ronco
• Elantris, Brandon Sanderson
• Titus Andronicus, William Shakespeare

Playing for Keeps: A Superhero Novel was first released in podcast and pdf form on playingforkeepsnovel.com. My first exposure to it was the podcast version, which is read by the author, Mur Lafferty. The paper version was recently released.

PfK is about group of people that are part of the Third Wave of superheroes. The Third Wavers have super powers, but their powers are kind of lame. Their powers are so weak that they’re considered useless in crime fighting. The main character is Keepsie Branson. Her power is that anything that she owns can’t be taken away from her. Third Wavers are looked down on by the powerful superheroes.

The Third Wavers get involved in a battle between the heroes and the villains in the city. As the story goes on, they learn that their powers are stronger than they initially realized. I really enjoyed the book. It makes me think that characters like Dazzler might not be so worthless after all. Next, I’m reading Headcrash.

• Headcrash, Bruce Bethke
• Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke
• Timeline, Michael Crichton
• Unshapely Things, Mark Del Franco
• Finding Serenity, Jane Espenson
• Serenity Found, Jane Espenson
• On Bullshit, Harry G. Frankfurt
• On Truth, Harry G. Frankfurt
• The Appeal, John Grisham
• Playing for Pizza, John Grisham
• The Taking, Dean Koontz
• Playing for Keeps, Mur Lafferty
• The Night Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Day Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Twilight Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• The Final Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
• Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
• His Majesty’s Dragon, Naomi Novik
• Throne of Jade, Naomi Novik
• Black Powder War, Naomi Novik
• Empire of Ivory, Naomi Novik
• Victory of Eagles, Naomi Novik
• Lyra’s Oxford, Philip Pullman
• Unholy Domain, Dan Ronco
• Elantris, Brandon Sanderson
• Titus Andronicus, William Shakespeare

So The Wheel of Time is finally being made into movies. This isn’t as exciting to me as it would have been 5 or 6 years ago, but I’m still glad. I think The Eye of the World and the next 1 or 2 should get their own movies, but after that they should start combining books. In some of those later books, not much happens….

That’s probably why the one season per book TV show thing wouldn’t work like they’re doing with A Song of Ice and Fire and The Sword of Truth. Speaking of The Sword of Truth, its series starts up in November.