Sunday, November 04, 2007
Books and late postings
Hey everyone -- or the two people who still may be checking my blog. Obviously, I have not been diligent in posting over the past few months. I've been busy with work and moving but have found a sliver of time to update the books I've read/am reading. Please see the posts below and I hope to be writing more regularly here.
Just finished
Life After God
by Douglas Coupland
We are the first generation raised without God. We are creatures with strong religious impulses, yet they have nowhere to flow in this world of malls and TV, Kraft dinners and jets. How do we cope with loneliness? Anxiety? The collapse of relationships? How do we reach the quiet, safe layer of our lives? In this compellingly innovative collection of stories, bestselling author Douglas Coupland responds to these themes. Cutting through the hype of modern living to find a rare grace amid our lives, he uncovers a new kind of truth for a culture stuck on fast-forward. A culture seemingly beyond God.
by Douglas Coupland
We are the first generation raised without God. We are creatures with strong religious impulses, yet they have nowhere to flow in this world of malls and TV, Kraft dinners and jets. How do we cope with loneliness? Anxiety? The collapse of relationships? How do we reach the quiet, safe layer of our lives? In this compellingly innovative collection of stories, bestselling author Douglas Coupland responds to these themes. Cutting through the hype of modern living to find a rare grace amid our lives, he uncovers a new kind of truth for a culture stuck on fast-forward. A culture seemingly beyond God.
Just finished
Dead I May Well Be
by Adrian McKinty
This Irish bad-boy thriller -- set in the hardest streets of New York City -- brims with violence, greed, and sexual betrayal. "I didn't want to go to America, I didn't want to work for Darkey White. I had my reasons. But I went." So admits Michael Forsythe, an illegal immigrant escaping the Troubles in Belfast. But young Michael is strong and fearless and clever -- just the fellow to be tapped by Darkey, a crime boss, to join a gang of Irish thugs struggling against the rising Dominican powers in Harlem and the Bronx. The time is pre-Giuliani New York, when crack rules the city, squatters live furtively in ruined buildings, and hundreds are murdered each month. Michael and his lads tumble through the streets, shaking down victims, drinking hard, and fighting for turf, block by bloody block. Dodgy and observant, not to mention handy with a pistol, Michael is soon anointed by Darkey as his rising star. Meanwhile Michael has very inadvisably seduced Darkey's girl, Bridget -- saucy, fickle, and irresistible. Michael worries that he's being followed, that his affair with Bridget will be revealed. He's right to be anxious; when Darkey discovers the affair, he plans a very hard fall for young Michael, a gambit devilish in its guile, murderous in its intent. But Darkey fails to account for Michael's toughness and ingenuity or the possibility that he might wreak terrible vengeance upon those who would betray him. A natural storyteller with a gift for dialogue, McKinty introduces to readers a stunning new noir voice, dark and stylish, mythic and violent -- complete with an Irish lilt."
by Adrian McKinty
This Irish bad-boy thriller -- set in the hardest streets of New York City -- brims with violence, greed, and sexual betrayal. "I didn't want to go to America, I didn't want to work for Darkey White. I had my reasons. But I went." So admits Michael Forsythe, an illegal immigrant escaping the Troubles in Belfast. But young Michael is strong and fearless and clever -- just the fellow to be tapped by Darkey, a crime boss, to join a gang of Irish thugs struggling against the rising Dominican powers in Harlem and the Bronx. The time is pre-Giuliani New York, when crack rules the city, squatters live furtively in ruined buildings, and hundreds are murdered each month. Michael and his lads tumble through the streets, shaking down victims, drinking hard, and fighting for turf, block by bloody block. Dodgy and observant, not to mention handy with a pistol, Michael is soon anointed by Darkey as his rising star. Meanwhile Michael has very inadvisably seduced Darkey's girl, Bridget -- saucy, fickle, and irresistible. Michael worries that he's being followed, that his affair with Bridget will be revealed. He's right to be anxious; when Darkey discovers the affair, he plans a very hard fall for young Michael, a gambit devilish in its guile, murderous in its intent. But Darkey fails to account for Michael's toughness and ingenuity or the possibility that he might wreak terrible vengeance upon those who would betray him. A natural storyteller with a gift for dialogue, McKinty introduces to readers a stunning new noir voice, dark and stylish, mythic and violent -- complete with an Irish lilt."
Just finished
Angel Fire East
by Terry Brooks
The Word & the Void series: book three
As a Knight of the Word, John Ross has struggled against the tireless dark forces of the Void for twenty-five years. A rootless wanderer scarred as deeply by the magic he wields as by the unspeakable horrors he has witnessed in its service, Ross is driven by dreams that show the world reduced to blood and ashes by the Void and its minions. The grim futures he dreams each night will come true unless he can stop them now, in the present. But for all his power, John Ross is only one man, while the demons he hunts--and which hunt him in turn--are legion.
Then Ross learns of the birth of a gypsy morph, a rare and dangerous creature formed of wild magics spontaneously knit together. If he can discover its secret, the morph could be an invaluable weapon against the Void. But the Void, too, knows the value of the morph, and will not rest until the creature has been corrupted--or destroyed.
Desperate, Ross returns to the town of Hopewell, Illinois, home of Nest Freemark, a young woman with magical abilities of her own. Twice before, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance, the lives of Ross and Nest have intersected. Together, they have prevailed.
But now they face an ancient evil beyond anything they have ever encountered, for a demon of ruthless intelligence and feral cunning awaits them in Hopewell. As a firestorm of good and evil erupts, threatening to consume lives and shatter dreams, Ross and Nest have but a single chance to solve the mystery of the gypsy morph--and of their own profound connection.
by Terry Brooks
The Word & the Void series: book three
As a Knight of the Word, John Ross has struggled against the tireless dark forces of the Void for twenty-five years. A rootless wanderer scarred as deeply by the magic he wields as by the unspeakable horrors he has witnessed in its service, Ross is driven by dreams that show the world reduced to blood and ashes by the Void and its minions. The grim futures he dreams each night will come true unless he can stop them now, in the present. But for all his power, John Ross is only one man, while the demons he hunts--and which hunt him in turn--are legion.
Then Ross learns of the birth of a gypsy morph, a rare and dangerous creature formed of wild magics spontaneously knit together. If he can discover its secret, the morph could be an invaluable weapon against the Void. But the Void, too, knows the value of the morph, and will not rest until the creature has been corrupted--or destroyed.
Desperate, Ross returns to the town of Hopewell, Illinois, home of Nest Freemark, a young woman with magical abilities of her own. Twice before, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance, the lives of Ross and Nest have intersected. Together, they have prevailed.
But now they face an ancient evil beyond anything they have ever encountered, for a demon of ruthless intelligence and feral cunning awaits them in Hopewell. As a firestorm of good and evil erupts, threatening to consume lives and shatter dreams, Ross and Nest have but a single chance to solve the mystery of the gypsy morph--and of their own profound connection.
Just finished
A Knight of the Word
by Terry Brooks
The Word & the Void Series: book two
In the eleventh century the Welsh hero Owain Glyndwr was chosen to combat the demonic evil of the Void and disappeared from history to fulfill that mission. Armed with powerful magic, Glyndwr became a Knight of the Word - a draining and demanding legacy passed on eight centuries later to John Ross, a professor of English literature on tour in Wales. In accepting the black runestaff that channeled the magic of the Word, John Ross accepted a solemn trust - and an awful burden. Each night he dreams of hellish futures wrought upon the world by the Void. And each dream is of a future that will come to pass unless Ross prevents it in the present. Then an unspeakable act of violence shatters his weary beliefs. Haunted by guilt, John Ross turns his back on the Word. But a fallen Knight makes a tempting prize for the Void, and merciless demons soon stalk Ross and those close to him. His only hope is young Nest Freemark, who wields a powerful magic all her own.
by Terry Brooks
The Word & the Void Series: book two
In the eleventh century the Welsh hero Owain Glyndwr was chosen to combat the demonic evil of the Void and disappeared from history to fulfill that mission. Armed with powerful magic, Glyndwr became a Knight of the Word - a draining and demanding legacy passed on eight centuries later to John Ross, a professor of English literature on tour in Wales. In accepting the black runestaff that channeled the magic of the Word, John Ross accepted a solemn trust - and an awful burden. Each night he dreams of hellish futures wrought upon the world by the Void. And each dream is of a future that will come to pass unless Ross prevents it in the present. Then an unspeakable act of violence shatters his weary beliefs. Haunted by guilt, John Ross turns his back on the Word. But a fallen Knight makes a tempting prize for the Void, and merciless demons soon stalk Ross and those close to him. His only hope is young Nest Freemark, who wields a powerful magic all her own.
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