Scooter Chronicles

Sometime last week I finished reading “Icefields” by Thomas Wharton. This was his debut novel, and was also the first book I read for the “2nd Canadian Book Challenge”.

From Amazon.Com, here is a rundown on the description:

This first novel begins with an imaginative and ingenious premise: a physician trekking across the Arcturus Glacier in the Canadian Rockies in 1898 slips and tumbles into a crevasse, where he beholds a winged human figure. The rest of the book tells of Dr. Edward Byrne’s efforts to get to the bottom of the mystery in the ice. Along the way, he encounters...

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On Monday I finished reading “The Southpaw” by Mark Harris.

The book is fiction, but it is told via first person and as a memoir. Henry Wiggen is from a small town called Perkinsville, New York. His father had a shot at being a big league pitcher, but decided to take up the family life instead. The story goes back to touch on Henry’s life growing up, then moves to his days of playing semi-pro ball with the local team that he father also pitches for, his signing with the New York Mammoths (the fictional equal to the Yankees), his two years in AA ball (the Queen City Cowboys out in Colorado), and eventually...

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Over the weekend I finished reading “Three to See the King” by Magnus Mills.

From Publishers Weekly, found on Amazon.Com, here is the description:

For his third novel, former London bus driver Mills delivers a remarkable fable packed with amusing biblical allusions and eccentric characters. It begins in a house of tin “in the middle of a vast and deserted plain,” where the unnamed narrator lives alone. Three of his friends Simon Painter, Philip Sibling and Steve Treacle also live on the plain, also in houses of tin. The narrator’s primary activities consist of sweeping away...

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My book reading schedule has been really strange as of late. There have been a lot of books that I have wanted to read, but I find myself picking up other books and reading them. Part of it is due to schedule. Part of it is due to mood.

For a while I had “Dune” by Frank Herbert on the brain. After re-reading “Fahrenheit 451″ by Ray Bradbury, I felt it was time to re-read another classic sci-fi novel. But I just haven’t gotten around to it. More recently I received an Advanced Reader Copy of “Anathem” by Neal Stephenson. The book won’t be released to the public until the second week of September. I have no obligation to actually read it and review it, but wanted to do my part....

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This past weekend I finished reading “The Book of Flying” by Keith Miller. This was part of a “book club” read with my brother-in-law David, his sister-in-law Karen, and his Mother.

From Amazon.Com and Booklist (written by Paula Luedtke), here is the book’s description:

Pico is the librarian in his city by the sea: a humble, gentle man, a collector of books, a guardian and caretaker of the stories that are his breath and his life. One fateful day, he falls in love with Sisi, a beautiful, winged girl who cannot truly love a wingless creature like him. So Pico sets...

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On Sunday afternoon I finished reading “The Complete Persepolis” by Marjane Satrapi. This book contained both parts of the “Persepolis” story that were originally published as two separate books.

“Persepolis” is a memoir of Satrapi’s life from 1979 to 1994 (from approximately the ages of 9 to 24). It is similar to a graphic novel. This is part of what Amazon has listed as the “product description”:

“Persepolis” is the story of Satrapi’s unforgettable childhood and coming of age within a large and loving family in Tehran during the...

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On Friday afternoon I finished reading “The Brief Life of Oscar Wao”, the debut novel by Junot Diaz, which also won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

From Publishers Weekly, a review by Matthew Sharpe will have to serve as a plot synopsis for my review:

A reader might at first be surprised by how many chapters of a book entitled The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao are devoted not to its sci fi–and–fantasy-gobbling nerd-hero but to his sister, his mother and his grandfather. However, Junot Diaz’s dark and exuberant first novel makes...

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On Wednesday at lunch, I finished reading “Last Dragon”, the debut novel by J. M. McDermott.

I mentioned in a meme before that I have never received an “advanced reader copy” (or ARC’s for short) of a novel before. I have come across a few people on the internet that have enough clout that they do get them. Well, by luck, I am a member of LibraryThing.Com and recently members have been able to sign up for ARC’s of certain books. They are sent out to you directly from the publisher. Though it seems that it is AFTER the book is released. My thinking...

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This past Sunday I finally finished reading “A Soldier of the Great War” by Mark Helprin.

For a synopsis, I am using Barbara Hoffert’s review from 1991 that appeared in Library Journal:

In summer 1964, a distinguished-looking gentleman in his seventies dismounts on principle from a streetcar that was to carry him from Rome to a distant village, instead accompanying on foot a boy denied a fare. As they walk, he tells the boy the story of his life. A young aesthete from a privileged Roman family, Alesandro Giuliani found his charmed...

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We’re Back
We got back Monday afternoon from our visit to Michigan. It was a good trip, though too short as always. The ride home was pretty good considering it rained a good portion of the way, and we had a forced stop of 30 minutes waiting for an accident to clear. Marcia was sleeping at the time, and Nigel was watching a video, so I did a crossword puzzle while waiting.

Bookworm Carnival
The Bookworm Carnival that I am hosting has finally been put together. You can see the PAGE here on my site. The theme was urban / contemporary fantasy. A few books I have read were reviewed, but some good suggestions...

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