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I struggled with 77 Shadow Street by Dean Koontz. Most of his books I can just breeze right through. I just could not get into this book. One of the things that bothered me was the location or lack of location. Koontz is usually very specific with the locales. The whole time I was reading I was so distracted by a lack of location.
I read nonfiction and I don't like what I call "List Books." Every once and awhile an author I like will write a book titled something like, "The 20 Worst Women In America" or "People Who Are Hypocrites." I think it's lazy.
Loved Druids, the Greener Shore, Bard (her best, hands-down), Brendan, the Elementals (actually short stories that fit together). I'm not into more recent Irish history, so I skipped all the ones about the 19th and 20th century Ireland. I love her ancient stuff! I had thought Etruscans would be a meticulously-researched true-to-history story like her others. But, not so much. "After Rome" was so-so. It's her most recent, and she's getting pretty old; so she must be winding down.
I liked Bard a lot, and the one she wrote about Brian Boru (can't remember the title). But I've never been able to get into any of her other books at all.
i love cormac mccarthy. have only read his last two; no country for old men and the road. i did try to read blood meridian. many good reviews and recommendations. i bought it. it's still lying around. didn't get too far into it and could not read it. i may try it again someday.
james clavell. loved his asian series; king rat, tai-pan, shogun, noble house. didn't like whirlwind as much. if i read gaijin i don't remember it.
I read Philippa Gregory on and off, as a whole I like her books however The Wise Woman was something else altogether, it has some very sinister undertones and even gave me nightmares. Now before I buy I check more carefully on the content of her books.
Funny, I LOVED The Wise Woman by Philippa Gregory. I have not read her other books but those "sinister undertones" really got me, and I was happy to see a much-less-than-perfect heroine doing naughty things without censorship or the usual morality tale (yawn). Yep, the book is dark, old-world and moody and I have to admit a few scenes especially with the wax figures really creeped me out, even as a seasoned horror fan. A friend of mine actually hated the book because of this horrible character; definitely not for everyone.
I love King for the most part but Under the Dome was complete crap. The characters were all one dimensional, the politics/religion thing was way too in your face, and the ending made me roll my eyes so hard they practically fell out of my head.
As a lover of classic fiction, I am a huge fan of Dostoevsky. The Brothers Karamazov is the last book he wrote before his death, and it is very well-known and highly regarded. Although I acknowledge that parts of it are brilliant, as a whole I feel that it has too many characters, and it's too "all over the place." I feel that if it were more concise and streamlined it would have a lot more going for it. Unfortunately, the plethora of characters (particularly secondary characters) seem to clog up the book and make it hard to follow the plot. In fact, the overabundance of plotlines makes it hard to discern what "the" plot actually is! It's very disappointing for me, as I idolize Dostoevsky as one of the greatest writers of all time.
I like Ann Rule, but I didn't like "Bitter Harvest" because the story took place in my neighborhood and I thought a lot of it was fabricated/conjecture/personal opinion on the part of the author maybe to make a better story. She painted the husband/father as a saint and he most certainly is not. She painted the wife/mother has all evil which also is not the whole story. Maybe it makes a better story to make it more black and white that it actually is.
After reading that book, it kind of ruined Ann Rule books for me. Now I wonder how much of it is really as she portrays it and how much is coloring added by Ann Rule.
Chaim Potok, I Am the Clay
Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers
James Michener, Mexico
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