Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in krinek's LiveJournal:

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Monday, May 21st, 2012
2:51 pm	11. Pig Island by Mo Hayder Title: Pig Island Author: Mo Hayder Publisher: Bantam Books Year: 2006 # of pages: 494 Date read: 3/19/2012 Rating: 3*/5 = good Description: "SEE EVIL Journalist Joe Oakes makes a living exposing supernatural hoaxes. But what he sees when he visits a secretive religious community on a remote Scottish island forces him to question everything he thought he knew. HEAR EVIL Why have the islanders been accused of Satanism? What has happened to their leader? And why will no one discuss the strange creature seen wandering the lonely beaches of Pig Island? READ EVIL In Pig Island, Mo Hayder dares you to face your fears head on and to look at what lurks beneath the surface of everyday normality. It's about the unspeakable things people do to each other." -- from the back cover My thoughts: This was a very good thriller with lots of twists and turns. I liked the ways the characters interacted and I definitely did not expect the ending. (Comment on this)
Friday, May 18th, 2012
11:10 am	10. The Girl in the Glass by Jeffrey Ford Title: The Girl in the Glass Author: Jeffrey Ford Publisher: Dark Alley Year: 2005 # of pages: 281 Date read: 3/8/2012 Rating: 3*/5 = good Description: "The Great Depression has bound a nation in despair -- and only a privileged few have risen above it: the exorbitantly wealthy ... and the hucksters who feed upon them. Diego, a seventeen-year-old illegal Mexican immigrant, owes his salvation to master grifter Thomas Schell. Together with Schell's gruff and powerful partner, they sail comfortably through hard times, scamming New York's grieving rich with elaborate, ingeniously staged séances -- until an impossible occurrence changes everything. While 'communing with spirits,' Schell sees an image of a young girl in a pane of glass, silently entreating the con man for help. Though well aware that his otherworldly "powers" are a sham, Schell inexplicably offers his services to help find the lost child -- drawing Diego along with him into a tangled maze of deadly secrets and terrible experimentation. At once a hypnotically compelling mystery and a stunningly evocative portrait of Depression-era New York, The Girl in the Glass is a masterly literary adventure from a writer of exemplary vision and skill." -- from the back cover My thoughts: This was a good book about staged seances, immigration, Prohibition and life of grifters trying to make a living among the rich. I liked Diego's relationships with Schell, Antony, and Isabel. Progress: 10 / 100 books. 10% done! 2888 / 35000 pages. 8% done! (Comment on this)
10:56 am	9. The Footprints of God by Greg Iles Title: The Footprints of God Author: Greg Iles Publisher: Pocket Star Year: 2004 # of pages: 526 Date read: 2/28/2012 Rating: 3*/5 = good Description: "In a secret government lab, America's top scientists work on Trinity -- a supercomputer that could surpass the power of the human mind. As the project's ethicist, Dr. David Tennant works in a firestorm of limitless science and ruthless ambition. After a fellow scientist is murdered, David uncovers who the killer is. Desperate, he turns to Rachel Weiss, the psychiatrist probing the nightmares that have plagued him since joining the project, and both are forced to flee for their lives. Pursued around the globe, David and Rachel piece together the truth behind Project Trinity, and the apocalyptic power it possesses. But Trinity's countdown has already begun, and humanity is now held hostage by a form of life that cannot be destroyed. The only hope for survival lies in the shocking connection that exists between Trinity and David's tortured mind. Mankind's future hangs in the balance -- and the price of failure is extinction." -- from the back cover My thoughts:  This was a good, fast moving thriller. I liked how David and Rachel worked together to stop Project Trinity. (Comment on this)
10:50 am	8. The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston with Mario Spezi Title: The Monster of Florence Author: Douglas Preston Publisher: Grand Central Year: 2008 # of pages: 328 Date read: 2/23/2012 Rating: 3*/5 = good Description: Douglas Preston fulfilled a lifelong dream when he moved with his family to a farmhouse in Florence. Upon meeting the celebrated journalist, Mario Spezi, Preston was stunned to learn that the olive grove next to his home had been the scene of a horrific double murder committed by one of the most infamous figures in Italian history--the Monster of Florence. Fascinated, Preston began working with Spezi to uncover the serial killer who had ritually slain fourteen young lovers and was never caught. Here is the true story of their search and confront the man they believe is the Monster. And in an ironic twist of fate that echoes the city's bloody history, Preston and Spezi themselves became targets of a bizarre police investigation. THE MONSTER OF FLORENCE is a remarkable chronicle of murder, mutilation, deceit, suicide, and vengeance. . .with Preston and Spezi caught in the middle." -- from the back cover My thoughts: This was a very good book about an elusive serial killer and about how a fixation on a particular theory and the importance of saving face can have serious consequences. (Comment on this)
Friday, May 4th, 2012
11:16 am	7. The Pride of Chanur by C.J. Cherryh Title: The Pride of Chanur Author: C.J. Cherryh Publisher: Daw Books Year: 1981 # of pages: 224 Date read: 2/8/2012 Rating: 3*/5 = good Description: "No one at Meetpoint Station had ever seen a creature like Outsider. Naked-hided, blunt-toothed and blunt-figured, Tully was the sole surviving member of his company -- a communicative, spacefaring species hitherto unknown -- and he was a prisoner of his discoverer/captors the sadistic, treacherous kif, and until his escape onto the hani ship THE PRIDE OF CHANUR. Little did he know when he threw himself upon the mercy of THE PRIDE and her crew that he put the entire hani species in jeopardy and imperiled the peace of the Compact itself. For the information this fugitive held could be the ruin or glory of any of the species at Meetpoint Station.  -- from the back cover My thoughts: I liked this first book of the Chanur series. I especially liked the way Pyanfar figured out how to deal with the kif and how knowing Tully can be useful. I look forward to reading the next book, Chanur's Venture. (Comment on this)
11:07 am	6. Upside Down by John Ramsey Miller Title: Upside Down Author: John Ramsey Miller Publisher: Bantam Bell Year: 2005 # of pages: 337 Date read: 2/8/2012 Rating: 3*/5 = good Description: "In the rain-slick streets of New Orleans, a twelve-year-old girl is running out of time. Hours before, Faith Ann Porter hid under a desk while her attorney mother was murdered for photographs that could rock the city. Now Faith Ann is being hunted by a pair of killers with a very powerful boss. Because she has the negatives of the photos her mother died for, Faith Ann has only hours to live--and only one person can save her. . . Winter Massey is an ex-U.S. marshal whose career pitted him against some of the world's most ruthless criminals. Now Massey is drawn by horrifying cycle of murder--and the plea of one terrified young girl. But awaiting Massey is a chilling surprise. . .and an assassin with a secret mission, a secret motive, and the perfect plan. . . ."-- from the back cover My thoughts: This was a very good thriller. I liked how Faith Ann figured out how to survive and how she and Winter worked together later. I look forward to reading the first book in the series, Inside Out. (Comment on this)
Monday, April 23rd, 2012
10:28 am	5. Glass Soup by Jonathan Carroll Title: Glass Soup Author: Jonathan Carroll Publisher: Tor Books Year: 2006 # of pages: 320 Date read: 2/6/2012 Rating: 3*/5 = good Description: The realm of the dead is built from the dreams--and nightmares--of the living. Octopuses drive buses. God is a polar bear. And a crowded highway literally leads to Hell. Once before, Vincent Ettrich and lover, Isabelle Neukor, crossed over from life to death and back again. Now Isabelle bears a very special child, who may someday restore the ever-changing mosaic that is reality. Unless the agents of Chaos can lure her back to the land of the dead--and trap her there forever." -- from the back cover My thoughts: I enjoyed the magical realism in this book. I especially liked how Vincent, Isabelle, Simon and Leni learned to face their fears and how to defeat Chaos's plans. Progress: 5 / 50 books. 10% done! 1718 / 15000 pages. 11% done! (Comment on this)
Thursday, April 19th, 2012
11:18 am	4. Codex by Lev Grossman Title: Codex Author: Lev Grossman Publisher: Harvest Year: 2004 # of pages: 348 Date read: 2/3/2012 Rating: 3*/5 = good Description: "Edward Wozny, a hotshot young banker, is about to leave for vacation when he is sent to help an important yet mysterious client. His task: search the family library for a precious, centuries-old codex that may not even exist. Enlisting the expertise of medievalist Margaret Napier, Edward is determined to solve the mystery of the codes and to decipher the parallels between the codex legend a a computer game that absorbs him in the dark hours of the night. Weaving the medieval and the modern aspects of its plot in a chilling twist, Codex is a thriller of the highest order." -- from the back cover My thoughts: This was a good thriller. I liked learning about medieval writing and how bookmakers often used old pages as book covers. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 17th, 2012
7:26 pm	3. Last Mountain by Robert C. Fleet Title: Last Mountain Author: Robert C. Fleet Publisher: Ace Books Year: 1994 # of pages: 288 Date read: 1/31/2012 Rating: 3*/5 = good Description: Real World Nancy del Rio is a teenager struggling to grow up in the gang-ridden streets of Los Angeles. But Immigration wants to send her away from the only home she's ever known. Real Magic For centuries the Unicorn has been hunted for the magic of his horn, but the call of beauty can still draw him from hiding. Now the chase is on for both Nancy and the Unicorn. They are each other's only hope. And only together can they hope to reach... Last Mountain My thoughts: This was a good fantasy book. I liked the account of Cortes in Mexico from the Unicorn's point of view. I also liked Nancy's interactions with her family and Karus, the Rider. (Comment on this)
Monday, April 16th, 2012
12:16 pm	2. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks Title: People of the Book Author: Geraldine Brooks Publisher: Penguin Year: 2008 # of pages: 368 Date read: 1/23/2012 Rating: 3*/5 = good Description: "Hanna Heath, an Australian rare book expert, has been offered the job of a lifetime: analysis and conservation of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, rescued from Serb shelling during the Bosnian war. Priceless and beautiful, the book is one of the earliest Jewish volumes ever to be illuminated with images. When Hanna discovers a series of tiny artifacts in its ancient binding--an insect wing fragment, wine stains, salt crystals, a white hair--she begins to unlock the book's mysteries, ushering in its exquisite and atmospheric past, from its salvation back to its creation through centuries of exile and war. Inspired by a true story, People of the Book is a novel of sweeping historical grandeur and intimate emotional intensity--an acclaimed and ambitious work from a Pulitzer Prize-winning author." -- from the back cover My thoughts: I enjoyed this book. I especially liked learning about the Haggadah through the lives of the people who made it, owned it, and used it. (Comment on this)
10:40 am	1. Dancing with Werewolves by Carole Nelson Douglas Title: Dancing with Werewolves Author: Carole Nelson Douglas Publisher: Juno Books Year: 2007 # of pages: 394 Date read:1/3/2012 Rating: 3*/5 = good First sentence: "For the first time in the history of humankind, the turn of the millennium was tracked around the globe like an incoming comet zooming over the earth from the black night sky." Description: "It was the revelation of the millennium: witches, werewolves, vampires, and other supernaturals are real. Fast-forward thirteen years: TV reporter Delilah Street used to cover the small-town bogeyman beat back in Kansas, but now, in high-octane Las Vegas--which is run by a werewolf mob--she finds herself holding back the very gates of Hell. At least she has a hot new guy and one big bad wolf-hound to help her out..." -- from the back cover My thoughts: This was a good paranormal fantasy. I liked the mix of the mysterious and supernatural in the Las Vegas setting. I also liked Delilah's interactions with Hector, her familiar Quicksilver, Ric and the CineSims. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, Brimstone Kiss. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, December 28th, 2011
1:53 pm	53. Mister Monday by Garth Nix [2010 list] Title: Mister Monday Author: Garth Nix Publisher: Collins Year: 2003 # of pages: 425 Date read: 12/23/2010 Rating: 3*/5 = good Description: "Arthur Penhaligon is not supposed to be a hero. He is supposed to die. But then he meets sinister Mister Monday and everything changes. SEVEN DAYS. SEVEN KEYS. ONE MYSTERIOUS BOOK. ONE STRANGE HOUSE FILLED WITH SECRETS. Dare Arthur enter and accept the fate that awaits him within? -- from the back cover My thoughts: I enjoyed this first book of the Keys to the Kingdom series. Iliked how Arthur learned to believe in himself and how he interacted with Suzy and the Will. I look forward to reading the next book, Grim Tuesday. Final Progress Report for 2010: 53 / 100 words. 53% done! 17906 / 30000 words. 60% done! (Comment on this)
1:25 pm	52. Beyond the Blue Event Horizon by Frederik Pohl [2010 list] Title: Beyond the Blue Event Horizon Author: Garth Nix Publisher: Del Rey Year: 1980 # of pages: 309 Date read: 12/20/2010 Rating: 3*/5 = good Description: Robinette Broadhead, made rich by the Gateway mission that had cost him the woman he loved, joined in bankrolling an expedition to the Food Factory a Heechee spaceship found beyond the obit of Pluto and designed to graze the cometary cloud and transform the basic elements of the universe into untold quantities of food. Broadhead thought his motives were simple enough, a gamble on a breakthrough that could end famine forever and would make him the wealthiest man in history. But his understanding, tough-minded wife knew something else drove her husband, a vision of his lost love: poised forever at the 'event horizon' of a black hole. . .where Robin had abandoned her. Every scrap of Heechee lore that could be brought back and interpreted increased the chance that he would someday, somehow be able to reach and perhaps even rescue his beloved Gelle-Klara Moynlin. After three and a half years, messages came back from the expedition that electrified the wold: the Food Factory was still working. . .they found a human aboard. . .they had discoveed the key to the use of a whole new level of technology. . . And, it appeared they had found the Heechee! My thoughts: I liked this science fiction book about discovery and relationships. I noticed that although there were spaceships and colonization of other worlds, the communication problems resembled pre-telegraph days. (Comment on this)
11:39 am	51. Body Work by Fiona Brand [2010 list] Title: Body Work Author: Fiona Brand Publisher: Mira  Year: 2006 # of pages: 377 Date read: 11/15/2010 Rating: 3*/5 = good Description: "Someone wants her dead and she can't remember why... As a child, Jane Gale witnessed her mother's murder and was nearly killed in trying to escape. Left for dead, she has suffered complete memory loss, unable to recall who she was before the "accident" or the events that caused her mother's death. Twenty-five years later, Jane has a new life and a blossoming career as a novelist -- until the killer picks up her book and discovers that the only eyewitness to his secrets has survived. And told. Oblivious to the fact that she has attracted the murderer back into her life, Jane has no idea where the inspiration for her bestseller came from. But she has a photograph that leads her back to Louisiana, to a place she knows but can't remember -- and to a stranger she wants to trust. Because somehow he is a link to her past . . . and her only chance of staying alive." -- from the back cover My thoughts: I enjoyed this thriller. I liked how Jane gradually learned that the book she wrote was based on forgotten memories and how she learned to face her enemy. (Comment on this)
Sunday, December 25th, 2011
5:29 pm	50. Hurry Down Sunshine by Michael Greenberg [2010 list] Title: Hurry Down Sunshine Author: Michael Greenberg Publisher: Other Press Year: 2008 # of pages: 233 Date read: 11/14/2010 Rating: 3*/5 = good Description: "Hurry Down Sunshine tells the story of the extraordinary summer when, at the age of fifteen, Michael Greenberg's daughter was struck mad. It began with Sally's sudden visionary crack-up on the streets of Greenwich Village, and continues, among other places , in the out-of-time world of a Manhattan psychiatric ward during the city's most sweltering months. 'I feel like I'm traveling and traveling with nowhere to go back to,' Sally says in a burst of lucidity while hurtling away toward some place her father could not dream of or imagine. Hurry Down Sunshine is the chronicle of that journey, and its effect on Sally and those closest to her--her mother and stepmother, her brother and grandmother, and, not least of all, the author himself." -- from the inside flap My thoughts: This was an interesting book about how mental illness affects a family. I liked how Sally's parents struggled to understand what's happening. Progress: 50 / 100 books. 50% done! 16795 / 30000 pages. 56% done! (Comment on this)
4:56 pm	49. Excession by Iain Banks [2010 list] Title: Excession Author: Iain Banks Publisher: Bantam Spectra Year: 1996 # of pages: 499 Date read: 11/7/2010 Rating: 3*/5 = good Description: "Diplomat Byr Genar-Hofoen has been selected by the Culture to undertake a delicate and dangerous mission. The Department of Special Circumstances--the Culture's espionage and dirty tricks section--has sent him off to investigate a 2,500-year-old mystery: the sudden disappearance of a star fifty times older than the universe itself. But in seeking the secret of the lost son, Byr risks losing himself. There is only one way to break the silence of millennia: steal the soul of the long-dead starship captain who first encountered the star, and convince her to be reborn. And in accepting this mission, Byr will be swept into a vast conspiracy that could lead the universe into an age of peace. . .or to the brink of annihilation." -- from the back cover My thoughts: I liked this book, but I think I would have liked it more if I had read the earlier books in the series first. I found myself wondering what was going on and who the characters were, and it wasn't until I was halfway through when I realized that it was part of a series. I look forward to reading the earlier books starting with Consider Phlebas (Comment on this)
4:42 pm	48. Cane River by Lalita Tademy [2010 list] Title: Cane River Author: Lalita Tademy Publisher: Warner Books Year: 2001 # of pages: 416 Date read: 10/25/2010 Rating: 4*/5 = good Description: "Ladita Tademy had always been intensely interested in her family's stories, especially ones about her great-grandmother Emily, a formidable figure who died with her life's savings hidden in her mattress. Probing deeper for her family's roots, Tademy soon found herself swept up in an obsessive two-year odyssey--and leaving her corporate career for the little Louisiana farming community of...Cane River. It was here, on a medium-sized Creole plantation owned by a family named Derbanne, that author Lalita Tademy found her family's roots--and the stories of four astonishing women whose lives began in slavery, who weathered the Civil War, and who grappled with the contradictions of emancipation through the turbulent early years of the twentieth century. Through it all, they fought to unite their family and forge success on their own terms. Here amid small farmhouses and a tightly knit community of French-speaking slaves, free people of color, and whites, Tademy's great-great-great-great-grandmother Elisabeth would bear both a proud heritage and the yoke of slavery. Her youngest daughter, Suzette, would be the first to discover the promise--and heartbreak--of freedom. Suzette's strong-willed daughter Philomene would use determination born of tragedy to reunite her family and gain unheard of economic independence. And Emily, Philomene's spirited daughter, would fight to secure her children's just due and preserve their future against dangerous odds. In a novel that combines painstaking historical reconstruction with unforgettable storytelling, Lalita Tademy presents an all too rarely seen part of American history, complete with a provocative portrayal of the complex, unspoken bonds between slaves and slave owners.Most of all, she gives us the saga of real, flesh-and-blood women, making hard choices in the face of unimaginable loss, securing their identity and independence in order to face any obstacle, and inspiring all the generations to come.' -- from the inside flap My thoughts: I liked this book about Tademy's ancestors and their struggles in the 19th and early 20th century. I especially liked the way she inserted images of newspaper accounts, slave auction lists, and census records. I would read these documents just after reading the fictional account and would connect the names to the characters, making them more "alive." I look forward to reading the sequel, Red River. (Comment on this)
Saturday, December 24th, 2011
4:40 pm	47. Psi Hunt by Michael Kurland [2010 list] Title: Psi Hunt Author: Michael Kurland Publisher: Berkley Year: 1980 Date read: 9/1/2010 Description: "Astral Emprise sold metaphysics, mysticism, paranormal phenomena, astrology lessons--and anything else that Believers were willing to spend a dollar on. Not the kind of operation the U.S. Navy was used to dealing with. Until the People's Republic of China decided that it could blow up half the United States with five telepathic kids who spent their days watching grade-B war movies in an L.A. theater. And Lieutenant Junior Grade Robert Burrows was assigned to call their bluff. . ." -- from the back cover My thoughts: This was a good mix of science fiction and adventure. I liked how Burrows and Friendly bluffed their way into the enemy's headquarters. (Comment on this)
1:16 pm	46. The Minds of Billy Milligan by Daniel Keyes [2010 list] Title: The Minds of Billy Milligan Author: Daniel Keyes Publisher: Bantam Books Year: 1981 # of pages: 426 Date read: 8/30/2010 Rating: 3*/5 = good Description: "Billy Milligan came be anyone he wants to be. . .except himself. Out of control of his own actions, Billy Milligan was a man tormented by twenty-four distinct personalities battling or supremacy over his body.--a battle which culminated in late 1977 when he awoke in jail, arrested for the kidnap and rape of three women. In a landmark trial, Billy was acquitted of his crimes by reason of insanity caused by multiple personality--the first such court decision in history--bringing to public light the most remarkable and harrowing case of multiple personality ever recorded. Twenty-four people live inside Billy Milligan. Philip, a petty criminal, Kevin, who dealt drugs and masterminded a drug store robbery; April, whose only ambition was to kill Billy's stepfather; Adalana, the shy, lonely, affection-starved lesbian who 'used' Billy's body in the rapes which led to his arrest; David, the eight-year-old 'keeper of the pain'; and all the others, including men, women, several children, both boys and girls, and the Teacher, the only one who can put them all together. You will meet each in this often shocking true story. And you will be drawn deeply into the mind of this tortured young man and his splintered, terrifying world." -- from the back cover My thoughts: This was an interesting book about someone who learned that he was rarely in charge of his actions. One scene that stuck in my mind was when "Phillip" decided to go to New York and "David" came forward and couldn't carry the weight of the duffel bag. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, December 20th, 2011
1:26 pm	45. Banvard's Folly by Paul Collins [2010 list] Title: Banvard's Folly: Thirteen Tales of People Who Didn't Change the World Author: Paul Collins Publisher: Picador Year: 2001 # of pages: 283 Date read: 8/25/2010 Rating: 3*/5 = good Description: "In Banvard's Folly, Paul Collins celebrates what he calls the 'forgotten ephemera of genius.' Here are thirteen unforgettable portraits of men and women who might have claimed their share of renown but who, whether from ill timing, skullduggery, monomania, the tinge of madness, or plain bad luck--or perhaps some combination of them all--leapt straight from life into thankless obscurity. Among their number are scientists, artists, writers, entrepreneurs, and adventurers, from across the centuries and around the world. They hold in common the silenced aftermath of failure, the name that rings no bells--until now." -- from the back cover My thoughts: This is a fascinating book about people and their tenuous claim to fame. I liked learning about the musical language "Solresol," promoted by Jean Francois Sudre and the use of blue glass to heal as promoted by A.J. Pleasanton. Progress: 44 / 100 books. 44% done! 15221 / 30000 pages. 51% done! (Comment on this)