9. Eye Of The Needle - Ken Follett

Eye of the Needle is a spy/suspense novel set in World War II. Originally published in 1978 under the title "Storm Island", it was an almost immediate hit. According to Ken Follett's official website, it is still selling in 25 to 30 languages, with approximately 10 million copies sold.
Operation Fortitude was the code name for the Allies counterintelligence effort to disguise the location of the D-Day assault, and therefore keep troops and weaponry from being moved towards Normandy. The main focus of the operation was the creation of the First United States Army Group (FUSAG). FUSAG consisted of large, fake, fleets of ships, aircrafts...etc. built near the Pas de Calalis. From the air, this concentration of wooden ships & machinery gave the appearance of a massive military buildup and thus implied the invasion would come from the Pas de Calalis.
In Eye of the Needle, a german spy operating in the U.K. discovers the fabricated military buildup. The story follows the spy "Die Nadel" as he trys to escape to Germany with the photographic proof of the fabricated buildup, which if known to the German high-command, has the potential to expose the D-Day landing site and turn the tide of the war.
The plot races along while continually building suspense, before ending in a very satisfying, well-thought out conclusion. I loved this book. The setting and the mood of the novel was simply amazing. The background detail, while never intrusive, left me with the feeling that I was living in London during the war. Simply a great book and highly recommended!

A Reader - Month In Review - March

Total number of books read: 2
Number of pages read: 559
Books Read:
The Drawing of the Dark
Something From The Nightside
Authors:
Male: 2
Female: 0
Books Purchased: None
Favorite Book:
The Drawing of the Dark
From TBR Challenge:
None this month
Thoughts:
A hit and miss month in terms of good books. The Drawing of the Dark was great, but Something From The Nightside was a bit of a disappointment. No books purchased either...I definitely have to correct that next month!

8. The Drawing of the Dark - Tim Powers

First published in 1979, The Drawing of the Dark is one of Tim Powers earliest works and his first entry in the Fantasy genre.  The novel takes place in Vienna in the early 1500's.  Brian Duffy is a soldier of fortune, who after a confrontation along a venice canal with 3 swordsman, is offered a job as a bouncer at the legendary Herzwestern brewery.  It's an improbable start to a fresh take on the Fisher King legend.  Duffy finds himself protecting the leader of the western world against a siege of Vienna from Suleiman 1st, leader of the Turkish Ottoman empire.  Plenty of sword fighting, along with vikings, Swiss mercenaries, and of course lots of beer! 

If you've read Tim Powers before you'll recogonize many of his familiar themes, especially his tendency to keep you a bit confused in the beginning as snippets of remembrances and conversations eventually begin to make sense as the story progresses.  My only criticism of the novel is that Duffy's love affair with Epiphany never really makes a significant contribution to the novel.  It just seems to labor along without adding much to the story.  

This is a great introduction to Tim Powers work and a great story overall.  Highly recommended.

7. Something From The Nightside - Simon R. Green

"Something from the Nightside" is the first in a long running series of novels (I think its up to 9 now) featuring a down on his luck P.I. named John Taylor. The series takes place in an alternate London called the Nightside. In the opening novel in the series we learn that John Taylor grew up in the dangerous Nightside, possesses the gift of finding things, and left the Nightside 5-years ago vowing never to return. Of course, in walks a female client with a lost daughter and Taylor once again finds himself visiting the gritty world of the Nightside.

Much of what Green attempts to do will be familiar to fans of Neil Gaimon's "Neverwhere", Jim Butcher's "Dresden series", or Glen Cook's "Garret files". Unfortunately this first book is too simplistic and not nearly as in-depth as some of the works mentioned above. For most of the novel it is essentially a straight line progression with two characters, neither of which seems very complex. In fact, most of the novel is with the two characters moving in a straight line and giving the readers glimpses of the Nightside landscape as they turn their heads left and right. Characters come and go without really learning much about them.

Having said all of that, if you're a fan of Gaimon, Butcher or Cook then you'll probably enjoy the story and setting, if for no other reason than it's potential. This wasn't a very good book in my mind, but it was good enough that I'm going to read the second book in the series.

Philip Jose Farmer 01/26/18 - 2/25/09

One of the sci-fi pioneers, Philip Jose Farmer, passed away yesterday at the age of 91.

I re-read "To Your Scattered Bodies Go" just a few months ago. It's the first book in his ground breaking Riverworld saga. The concept is that everyone who has ever lived on Earth is resurrected on this unknown world, next to a large river. If you haven't read this, it's well worth your time. Thought provoking, great characters, and an incredible premise. I'm in my den looking at my "to be read" pile and his second book "The Fabulous Riverboat" is there. It just might be time to pick that one up.

Here's a link to his official website. http://www.pjfarmer.com/

A Reader - Month In Review - February

Total number of books read: 4
Number of pages read: 1482
Books Read:
Angels and Demons – Dan Brown
Riders of the Purple Sage – Zane Grey
And Then There Were None – Agatha Christie
Three Days To Never – Tim Powers
Authors
Male: 3
Female: 1
Books Purchased: 3
Something From The Nightside - Simon Green
Eye of the Needle - Ken Follett
The Drawing of the Dark - Tim Powers
Favorite Book:
Angels and Demons - Dan Brown
From TBR Challenge:
Angels and Demons – Dan Brown
Riders of the Purple Sage – Zane Grey
And Then There Were None – Agatha Christie
Three Days To Never – Tim Powers
Thoughts:
I'm very happy to have finished 4 books this month given my rather hectic work/life balance. I finished 4 books off of my "to be read" pile, and as it turns out all of them were fantastic!

6. Three Days To Never - Tim Powers

Published in 2006, Three Days To Never is a complex, slowly unfolding mystery of time travel, complete with historical figures (Albert Einstein, Charlie Chaplin) and supernatural elements. This one's not as intricately plotted as his World Fantasy Award winner "Declare" but it had enough strange twists and turns that I found myself having to go back and reread pages more often than I'd like to admit.  Urban fantasy, cyberpunk, secret histories; it's hard to classify Tim Powers.  Whatever the label, it's easy to be a fan.

5. And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie

This is easily the best mystery novel I've ever read. Published in 1939, it's Agatha Christies best-selling novel, and apparently the worlds best-selling mystery, having sold over 100 million copies to date. "And Then There Were None" is the story of 10 strangers, each lured to Indian Island by a mysterious host. Once the guests have arrived, the host accuses each person of murder. Unable to leave the island, the guests begin to share their darkest secrets -- until they begin to die.

The characters and their reasons for being on the island are fascinating, the dialogue is masterful, and the event after event pacing of the novel kept me hooked straight through to the surprise ending. I highly recommend "And Then There Were None."

4. Riders of the Purple Sage - Zane Grey

Growing up, I can remember my father always reading paperback westerns by Louis L'amour and Zane Grey. And although I read a fair amount of L'amour books as a kid, for some reason I never read any of Grey's novels. Riders of the Purple Sage sat on my "to be read" list for a long time, and now that I'm finished with the book, I'm glad I finally took the plunge.

Published in 1912, Riders of the Purple Sage is the novel that essentially defined the Western genre. The book was a huge success for Grey, selling over a million copies upon publication.

The book is set in southern Utah, in the town of Cottonwoods, and tells the story of three central characters. Lassiter, a gunman in black leather who spends his life searching for a woman abducted long ago. Jane Withersteen, a Mormon cattle rancher, pressured into marrying against her will. And Venters, a Gentile who has been outcasted by the town's church elder for his friendship with Jane.

Although I began the book with a stereotype in mind, expecting a fast-paced, shoot em' up western, I have to admit that Riders of the Purple Sage took a while to get used to. There isn't nearly as much action (gunfighting...etc.) as I would have expected, and the book turned out really to be a love story with an underlying tension of varying religious beliefs. I was also suprised to find it filled with passage after passage of amazing nature writing. In my opinion, the descriptions of the landscape and weather that make up that part of the country, were just as good as anything I've read in Wallace Stegner's classic portrayals of the west.

"... but these were not beautiful cedars. They were gnarled, twisted into weird contortions, as if growth were torture, dead at the tops, shrunken, gray and old. Theirs had been a bitter fight, and Venters felt a strange sympathy for them. This country was hard on trees --- and men."

To Be Read Challenge

I've decided to take the "To Be Read" challenge. The challenge is to read 12 books from your "to be read" list this year. Like almost all readers, I have a big backlog of books that I've been meaning to get through. I think this will be a very productive challenge for me. In fact, it already has been with 3 of my backlog books already read so far this year.

In addtion, I'm still thinking about trying the "50 Book" challenge. Last year I read 21 books, and if I'm honest with myself, don't really see how I could get to 50, but the thought is very tempting!

3. Angels & Demons - Dan Brown

Wow! There’s nothing like a fast-paced thriller to keep you up late and take down a weekend or two. I liked this book. I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. At times the writing was a bit silly, but all in all the characters were well thought out and the plot certainly didn’t lack any twists and turns. I won’t ruin it for you, especially since the movie is coming out on May 15th.

One great thing about this book is that it often drove me to the internet to lookup the works of art that the author referred to. I thought the setting for the novel was masterful, I mean who doesn’t want to know what goes on in Vatican City? The Roman Catholic Church, the Illuminati, CERN, antimatter, the conflict between science and religion…lots of good stuff here.

Definitely a well thought out and well researched book. And for myself, a pleasant surprise.

Oh, and if you like Dan Brown and are willing to dive into the fantasy/secret histories realm, then give Tim Powers book “Declare” a try.

2. Blood Rites - Jim Butcher

The 6th book in the Harry Dresden series. I didn't like this one nearly as much as I did book #5 (Death Masks). Blood Rites has a somewhat goofy plot about vampires, the porn industry, and a new found brother. Okay, it's not exactly like reading Hemingway, but the series is funny, fast paced, and well worth picking up if you're just looking for simple fun reading.

1. Where the Trout Are All as Long as Your Leg - John Gierach

If you're a fly fisherman and you've never read John Gierach, then you're missing out on some of the finest outdoor writing available. This book, which is a small 84 pages, is another in his fine collection of stories. This time he writes about those secret fishing spots that we either all have, or all wish we had more of. His writing gives you the impression that you're sitting across from him, with a cup of coffee, and simply telling tales while maybe tying a couple of #18 parachute Adams.

An added bonus to this book is that the pages are decorated with Gyotaku fish prints. Gyotaku is a traditional form of Japanese fish printing, dating from the mid 1800s, a form of nature printing used by fishermen to record their catches. My wife and I have a couple of these that were done by one of the guides from Henry's Fork Anglers. It's an amazing art form.