SUREFIRE SUMMER BOOKS

The phrase "beach book" should conjure up certain images: a paperback novel, plot heavy and fun to read. A thriller, a comedy, a good mystery. Here are a few surefire books to get you through the hot days of summer.

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THE LORDS OF DISCIPLINE by Pat Conroy. Conroy's breakout novel. Thrilling, passionate and impossible to put down.

ENDER'S GAME by Orson Scott Card. The great sci-fi novel for people who don't usually read sci-fi. Trust me, read this book.

EYE OF THE NEEDLE by Ken Follett. Simply put: one of the greatest thrillers ever written.

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO / THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST by Stieg Larsson. Two stunning crime novels featuring an unusual protagonist.

THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE by Douglas Adams. As close to the Bible of great reads as you can get.

HARRY POTTER SERIES by J. K. Rowling. Each volume is good, and each volume is better than the previous one.

THE STAND / SALEM'S LOT by Stephen King. The "King of beach reads."

WATCHERS / STRANGERS by Dean Koontz. The second "King of beach reads."

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee. It's not often that a "classic" is also a compelling beach book.

THE PRINCESS BRIDE by William Goldman. As the source material for the movie everybody loves, almost no one has read this delightful (and surprisingly rich and compelling) novel.

SKIN TIGHT /NATIVE TONGUE / SICK PUPPY by Carl Hiaasen. Master of the comic crime novel. Wacky and exciting.

A TOWN LIKE ALICE by Nevil Shute. THE romance book. Harrowing and sweet at the same time.

THE TOMB / LEGACIES / CONSPIRACIES by F. Paul Wilson. The end of the world is coming, so better start reading the Repairman Jack novels to get yourself up to speed. Here are the first three (of fifteen.)

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP by John Irving. Irving's masterpiece. We are all terminal cases.

TARA ROAD / QUENTINS by Maeve Binchey. A great Irish writer doing what she does best, telling stories of real people and their day-to-day lives.

THE SCARLET RUSE / THE GREEN RIPPER by John D. MacDonald. Two of the best of the "Travis McGee" mysteries.

REPLAY by Ken Grimwood. What if you could live your life over again, and over, and over?

CARRION COMFORT by Dan Simmons. Epic horror about psychic vampires. Stunning.

CITY OF DREAMS: A Review

MarkJonesBooks
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Two years before Indiana Jones. Twenty years before Benjamin Franklin Gates (Nicholas Cage's character in National Treasure). And even before Robert Langdon of The DaVinci Code, there was Peter Fallon. If William Martin, the creator of Fallon, isn't sharing in the profits of the Treasure and Langdon movies, then he should be!

In 1979, Martin introduced Peter Martin in a superb historical thriller called Back Bay. And over the twenty years he has proven himself to the premier historical novelist of this generation. All the historical grandeur of Michener with none of the bad writing and tedious plots. Back Bay is the book that established his formula, and which the National Treasure producers use to great success. Alternating narratives: one that follows events in history, and the second which follows historian and collector of antiquities Peter Fallon in his search for some lost historical object. Gradually the two plots line merge to a roaring finish.

In Bay the object is silver tea set, made by Paul Revere and given to George Washington. After the War of 1812 the tea set disappears the in the late 20th century Peter Fallon uncovers some clues about the set and begins to pull the thread of history apart. In Harvard Yard it is a lost Shakespeare manuscript. In The Lost Constitution it is an annotated (by the writers) copy of the Constitution that was stolen at the Convention.

And now in City of Dreams Fallon is after some lost Revolutionary War bonds sold my Alexander Hamilton to pay for the Patriot rebellion. Seems like, due to a clause in the Constitution, that the bonds may still redeemable and the lost batch could be worth more than one billion dollars!

While no one will ever accuse Martin of being a great writer, he is a good one. And he is a masterful researcher who knows how to turn tidbits of research into fascinating (and plausible) fiction. All of Martin's books are enjoyable and you will come away with a deeper knowledge of history, and (hopefully) a desire to delve into the subject matter more deeply. Can a historical novelist ask for anything more? Maybe a share of the National Treasure profits, but ... I'm sure Mr. Martin is not holding his breath.

BIBLIO SAYS: Highly recommended for a great read.

MEN AND DOGS: A Review

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This is an easy review. I did not finish the book. Why? It's written in present tense, a death knell for fiction. Ms. Crouch, tell me one reason that this novel is better because of the present tense narrative point-of-view.

Oh, you argue, a few sections of the book are in the past tense POV. So, why is that? Would the book have been weakened if the entire novel was written in past tense POV?

Answer: No. So, the reason you chose the alternating present/past POV is merely an attempt to be hip, cool, modern?

Sorry, that's no good enough. All it did was annoy the hell out of me. It made me pay attention to the style and distracted from your story, a cardinal sin for fiction. It is nothing more than your pathetic plea to the reader: "Look at me, I'm a WRITER!"

And a poor one at that, Ms. Crouch.

BIBLIO SAYS: Avoid like syphilis.

CHANGELESS: A Review

Remember the first time you heard the 1976 LP, Boston? It blew you away. Swirling twin guitars, a sound that mixed Led Zep with Yes and The Beatles, hard rockin' songs with a melody, high harmonies, soulful singing by Brad Delp, and one mean ass rock and roll organ.

Remember the anticipation as you waited (and waited and waited and waited) for Boston's second LP? And then, it finally arrived! Don't Look Back. So you tossed it on your turntable (for those of you under 30, Google it) and you listened to the LP. And about halfway through Side Two you started to get a sour feeling in your belly. The album was good ... but was not great. It was ... the same, but not better. After two years, this is what you got? So, you listened to it again. For the next few days you walked around thinking: "Oh man, this sucks."

Welcome to CHANGELESS, the literary equivalent of Boston's Don't Look Back.

CHANGELESS is the sequel to SOULLESS, last year's Book of the Year at theBIBLIOfile. Read the Soulless review. Soulless was a delicate literary lampoon that seamlessly merged the darkness of Bram Stoker with the sensibility of Jane Austen set in Charles Dickens' London. It was a world in which vampires, werewolves and ghosts were accepted in English society. Author Gail Carriger deftly pulled off a screwball comedy of manners.

So what's wrong with CHANGELESS? The freshness has worn off. The wackiness of a English woman without a soul who can disarm vampires and werewolves with a thrust of her silver-coated parasol and sitting in council with Queen Victoria discussing the "vampire problem" is no longer new. Carriger has done little to move the story (and her world) into something else. We are stuck in a world that we already know, in a story that seems stale and mundane.

Like Don't Look Back, it's more of the same thing ... and then only a mere shadow. It serves to remind you how good the initial offering is.

BIBLIO SAYS: Read, but prepare for disappointment.

GLIMPSES: A review

The first rock n roll time-travel novel!

In the song "American Pie" Don McLean asked the question: "Can music save your mortal soul?" Glimpses answers that question with a resounding "YES!"

Ray Chackleford is an unstable, self-employed electronics repairman whose marriage is foundering and whose father has recently died. During his youth (in the 1960s) he played drums in a rock and roll band.

His unresolved relationships with wife and father are complicated when Ray travels to the Mexican site of his father's death and promptly falls in love with a woman even more unstable than he. In the midst of this emotional turmoil,

His unresolved relationships with wife and father are complicated when Ray travels to the Mexican site of his father's death and promptly falls in love with a woman even more unstable than he. In the midst of this emotional turmoil,
His unresolved relationships with wife and father are complicated when Ray travels to the Mexican site of his father's death and promptly falls in love with a woman even more unstable than he. In the midst of this emotional turmoil, begins to hear in his head and manages to transfer to tape legendary unfinished recordings by Jim Morrison, Brian Wilson, and Jimi Hendrix. This music is accompanied by "journeys" into the troubled lives of these rock musicians.

This is a brilliant evocation of the 1960s, and one man's journey through an altered past. Ray is far from being a traditional hero, but during his music quest he begins to heal some of his past angst.

If you love classic rock and roll, this is a must read!

BIBLIO SAYS: Highly recommended!


BIBLIO SAYS: Highly recommended!

ESSENTIAL TIME TRAVEL NOVELS

Books listed alphabetically ...

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THE ANUBIS GATES by Tim Powers (1985)

Quite brilliant. The colonization of Egypt by western European powers is the launch point for power plays and machinations. Steeping together in this time-warp stew are such characters as an unassuming Coleridge scholar, ancient gods, wizards, the Knights Templar, werewolves, and other quasi-mortals, all wrapped in the organizing fabric of Egyptian mythology. The reluctant heroes fight for survival against an evil that lurks beneath the surface of their everyday lives.

BRING THE JUBILEE by Ward Moore (1953)

This is one of the first (and the best) of the alternative history novels that ask: What if the South won the Civil War? Politically complex, astute and endlessly fascinating. The point of divergence occurs when the Confederate States of America wins the Battle of Gettysburg and subsequently declares victory in the "War of Southron Independence" on July 4, 1864 after the surrender of the United States of America. The novel takes place in the impoverished United States in the mid-20th century as war looms between the Confederacy and its rival, the German Union. History takes an unexpected turn when the protagonist Hodge Backmaker, a historian, decides to travel back in time and witness the moment when the South won the war.

A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT by Mark Twain (1889)
This story is both a whimsical fantasy and a social satire chock-full of brilliant Twainisms. Hank Morgan, a 19th century American-a Connecticut Yankee-by a stroke of fate is sent back into time to 6th century England and ends up in Camelot and King Arthur's Court. Although of average intelligence, he finds himself with knowledge beyond any of those in the 6th century and uses it to become the king's right hand man, and to challenge Merlin as the court magician. Astounded at the way of life in Camelot, Hank does the only thing he can think of to do: change them. In his attempt to civilize medieval Camelot he experiences many challenges and misadventures.
THE DANCERS AT THE END OF TIME by Michael Moorcock (1974 onward)Enter a decaying far, far future society, a time when anything and everything is possible, where words like 'conscience' and 'morality' are meaningless, and where heartfelt love blossoms mysteriously between Mrs Amelia Underwood, an unwilling time traveller, and Jherek Carnelian, a bemused denizen of the End of Time. The Dancers at the End of Time is a brilliant homage to the 1890s. The series include the following novels: An Alien Heat, The Hollow Lands and The End of All Songs.
GLIMPSES by Lewis Shiner (1993)
The first rock n roll time-travel novel! In the song "American Pie" Don McLean asked the question: "Can music save your mortal soul?" Glimpses answers that question with a resounding "YES!"
Ray Chackleford is an unstable, self-employed electronics repairman whose marriage is foundering and whose father has recently died. These unresolved relationships are complicated when Ray travels to the Mexican site of his father's death and promptly falls in love with a woman even more unstable than he. In the midst of this emotional turmoil, Ray--a rock drummer during his youth in the late Sixties--begins to hear in his head and manages to transfer to tape legendary unfinished recordings by Jim Morrison, Brian Wilson, and Jimi Hendrix. This music is accompanied by "journeys" into the troubled lives of these rock musicians. Shiner's appealing main character and his gripping style overcome the less believable aspects of his story.

If you love classic rock and roll, this is a must read!

THE GODS THEMSELVES by Issac Asimov (1972)

In the year 2100, mankind on Earth, settlers in a lunar colony and aliens from the para-universe, a strange universe parallel in time to our own, are faced with a race against time to prevent total destruction of the Earth. The invention of the Inter-Universe Electron Pump has threatened the rate of hydrogen fusion in the sun, leading, inevitably, to the possibilty of a vast explosion -- and the vapourization of the Earth exactly eight minutes later . . .
Asimov, is always, accurate and brilliant. The science is plausible.

THE LIGHT OF OTHER DAYS by Arthur C. Clark & Stephen Baxter (2000)

Two titans of hard SF--multiple award-winning British authors Clarke (Rendezvous with Rama) and Baxter (The Time Ships)--team up for a story of grand scientific and philosophical scope.
Ruthless Hiram Patterson, the self-styled "Bill Gates of the twenty-first century," brings about a communication revolution by using quantum wormholes to link distant points around Earth. Not content with his monopoly on the telecommunications industry, Patterson convinces his estranged son, David, a brilliant young physicist, to work for him. While humanity absorbs the depressing news that an enormous asteroid will hit Earth in 500 years, David develops the WormCam, which allows remote viewers to spy on anyone, anytime. The government steps in to direct WormCam use--but before long, privacy becomes a distant memory. Then David and his half-brother, Bobby, discover a way to use the WormCam to view the past, and the search for truth leads to disillusionment as well as knowledge.

Only by growing beyond the mores of the present can humanity hope to survive and to deal with the threats of the future, including that asteroid. The exciting extrapolation flows with only a few missteps, and the large-scale implications addressed are impressive indeed. For both authors the novel's conclusion takes place in familiar thematic territory, offering a final, hopeful transcendence for humanity.
THE MAN WHO FOLDED HIMSELF by David Gerrold (1973)
Daniel Eakins inherits a time machine and soon realizes that he has enormous power to shape the course of history. He can foil terrorists, prevent assassinations, or just make some fast money at the racetrack. And if he doesn't like the results of the change, he can simply go back in time and talk himself out of making it! But Dan soon finds that there are limits to his powers and forces beyond his control. A wild ride!

PASTWATCH: THE REDEMPTION OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS by Orson Scott Card (1996)

Tagiri and Hassan are members of Pastwatch, an academic organization that uses machines to see into the past and record it. Their project focuses on slavery and its dreadful effects, and gradually evolves into a study of Christopher Columbus.
They eventually marry and their daughter Diko joins them in their quest to discover what drove Columbus west. Columbus, with whom readers become acquainted through both images in the Pastwatch machines and personal narrative, is portrayed as a religious man with both strengths and weaknesses, a charismatic leader who sometimes rose above but often fell beneath the mores of his times. An entertaining and thoughtful history lesson.

REPLAY by Ken Grimwood (1986)
What if you could love your life over and over, and over again? Jeff Winston, a failing 43-year-old radio journalist, dies and wakes up in his 18-year-old body in 1963 with his memories of the next 25 years intact. He views the future from the perspective of naive 1963: "null-eyed punks in leather and chains . . . death-beams in orbit around the polluted, choking earth . . . his world sounded like the most nightmarish of science fiction."
Grimwood has transcended genre with this carefully observed, literate and original story. Jeff's knowledge soon becomes as much a curse as a blessing. After recovering from the shock (is the future a dream, or is it real life?), he plays out missed choices. In one life, for example, he falls in love with Pamela, a housewife who died nine minutes after Jeff; they try to warn the world of the disasters it faces, coming in conflict with the government and history. A third replayer turns out to be a serial killer, murdering the same people over and over. Jeff and Pamela are still searching for some missing part of their lives when they notice they are returning closer and closer to the time of their deaths, and realize that the replays and their times together may be coming to an end.

A brilliant book. An all-time classic.
SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut "Listen: Billy Pilgrim has become unstuck in time." After he is abducted by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore, Pilgrim's life unfolds in a display of plot-scrambling virtuosity, concentrating on his shattering experience as an American prisoner of war who witnesses the firebombing of Dresden.

Okay, we've all read it. 'Nuff said.


TIME AND AGAIN by Jack Finny
Possibly the best of all time-travel novels. While it is written with an old-fashioned sensibility Finny (Invasion of the Body Snatchers) is a superb novelist and a master at creating paranoria.
Simon Morley, an artist with a premium on imagination, is chosen as a possible subject by a group operating on the theory that time is charted by a myriad of details and if surrounded by what appear to be the artifacts and events of an era, they might be able to project themselves into the actual time slot. For weeks Simon is secluded in an apartment in New York's famous landmark, the Dakota, where he dresses, eats, entertains himself and reads newspapers in tire style of the New York of 1894 and finally he walks out into the Central Park of that January. As Simon wanders and takes photos of the familiar-but-different New York landscape, he becomes involved in the lives of several of his 19th century acquaintances. And there is a mystery that Simon is determined to solve that has to do with a suicide and a cryptic letter that ends "the sending of this should cause the Destruction by Fire of the entire World."

TIMESCAPE by Gregory Benford (1980)

It's 1998, and a physicist in Cambridge, England, attempts to send a message backward in time. Earth is falling apart, and a government faction supports the project in hopes of diverting or avoiding the environmental disasters beginning to tear at the edges of civilization. It's 1962, and a physicist in California struggles with his new life on the West Coast, office politics, and the irregularities of data that plague his experiments. Then he receives an unusual message ...

TO SAY NOTHING OF THE DOG by Connie Willis

In 2057, Ned Henry, an Oxford expert in the 20th century, jumps back and forth from the 1940s to correct a loose screw in the works of the time continuum. A tongue-in-cheek raspberry to Victorian novels, the story unfolds with such madcap almost screwball intensity makes the pages burn your fingers as you read. This a fun ride!


UP THE LINE by Robert Silverberg (1969)
Being a Time Courier was one of the best jobs Judson Daniel Elliott III ever had. It was tricky, though, taking group after group of tourists back to the same historic event without meeting yourself coming or going. Trickier still was avoiding the temptation to become intimately involved with the past and interfere with events to come. The deterrents for any such actions were frighteningly effective. So Judson Daniel Elliott played by the book. Then he met a lusty Greek in Byzantium who showed him how rules were made to be broken...and set him on a family-history-go-round that would change his past and his future forever!

THE GREATEST LIVING WRITER

theBIBLIOfile-------------------------------------------

He has sold 170 million books. He is the only author to have five hardback titles debut #1 on the New York Times list in a single year ... which he's accomplished four times. He has had nineteen consecutive # 1 bestsellers. He's had 46 New York Times hardback bestsellers.

James Patterson is the greatest living American writer. After all numbers don't lie. If that doesn't prove his statue, let's look at his brilliant, often transcendent writing ...

• I'M A GIRL OF EXTREMES. When I love something, I'm like a puppy dog (without all the licking). When I'm cranky, I'm a wasp (like, a whole hive of 'em). And when I'm angry, I'm a mother bear with a predator after her cubs: dangerous.(From Fang)

• And then, as though God Himself had finally heard her calling, a cell phone rang inside the trunk. (From Swimsuit)

• Getting stuck on a bus in New York City, even under normal circumstances, is a lesson in frustration. But when the bus belongs to the NYPD Tactical Assistance Response Unit, and it’s parked at a barricade that’s swarming with cops, and you’re there because you’re the only person in the world who might have a chance at keeping several hostages from being killed, you can cancel your dinner plans. (From Run For Your Life)

Who can argue with Patterson's brilliance? If Patterson does not win the Nobel Prize for Literature it will be incontrovertible evidence that the Nobel committee is nothing more than a group of political hacks.
BIBLIO SAYS: Please check the date of this posting. Have a great day.