Define "Normal" by Julie Anne Peters

Define "Normal" by Julie Anne Peters
Well done family crisis story, bit of an easy resolution, but overall a good teen story. Clinical Depression, punks, posers, snobs, classical piano.

David Drake's RCN Series RCN Forever! Up Cinnabar!

With the Lightnings

Lt. Leary Commanding

The Far Side of the Stars

The Way to Glory

Some Golden Harbor

When The Tide Rises

In the Stormy Red Sky

Just re-read all 6 previous in prep for the new one In the Stormy Red Sky, excellent as they all are, one of the better all round, perhaps because it has a tad more Mundy in it. overall series is 7-10, average 9.

Spam-a-Lot

Spamalot - was fun, but overall not worth it. I mean at $45 I expected a bit more than some dancing girls and a rehash of skits from Holy Grail with a smattering of other Monty Python skits thrown in the mix to change them up. Little new stuff. The dancing girls were good looking and the skits were fun, but none of them really measured up to the original, so re-watching Holy Grail would have been more fun. It was good don't get me wrong, but I've yet to go to a theatrical event and feel I've gotten money's worth, even this, which was probably the best of them (although Wicked was good). I guess I just don't have an appreciation for theatre, I'd rather see the movie. Actually I'd likely enjoy it more just seeing a filming of the play from right up close, than have the theatre experience. And they skipped over Castle Anthrax, which is one of the best bits in Holy Grail. a 6.

Ai Yori Aoshi - vol 17

Finally finished the story. V1-17. V17 is mature readers due to the quite tasteful sex scene, some minor nudity that US audiences might think objectionable for youngsters. But I was pleased to see they didn't gloss over it after building up for 16 volumes! Happy sweet ending, with everybody mostly happy and Aoi getting what she wanted for so long. Although the cover shows her in a wedding dress, they actually skip over the wedding and jump to an denouement 4 years later. Overall nice, and gives closure that the Anime didn't.

Manga

Ai Yori Aoshi V1-17 nice sweet romance, with some interesting dark backstory.

Free Collars Kingdom V1 - cats - that look like people but are cats and only look like people to other cats...

F. Paul Wilson - The Tomb

F. Paul Wilson - The Tomb
Repairman Jack #1 Good stuff, Kali in New York. Good characters, excellent action, Horror in name, a good dark fantasy, somewhat bloody, but not without sucessful ending. Dunno why never read it before. This was the revised edition - with ipods, not the original with walkmen... not much other changes. an 8

Ken Grimwood - Replay

Well written, with good characters and some fun alternate history stuff, but , overall there wasn't a reason, or explanation, hell Groundhog's Day at least had a moral, (and Bill Murry which certainly didn't hurt). It was fun, reminded me of Jumper a bit, esp early on, but sort of a deflated ending. A nice love story aspect but ends well, not sad, but not happy, sort of eh. Mostly after searching for meaning, I'd expected them to find something. but it's more of a character study after all.

Martyn Pig by Kevin Brooks

YA,
drunken father, death and murder mystery. betrayal, and 'acting'. interesting, and well written, but depressing, realistic, but not pleasant ending. a rather sad affair all told, but some pretty good mystery stuff, trying to dispose of the body and then an actual murder. lots of soul searching. don't like the title, doesn't tell anything about the story. a 6.

Hoot by Carl Hiaasen

Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
his first YA novel, with mystery, adventure, good teen story, and some environmentalism. Characteristically quirky characters and comic twists. Some good standing up to bullies, both the kids in school, and the adults in business.

Edward Bloor - Crusader

A good book, but not what I was expecting after reading the blurb. The cover and blurb imply sort of a SF alternate reality layer to the story that is not there. Her family owns an arcade, her mother was killed when she was 8, her father is never around and now at 16 she's finally dealing with it. Journalism, media, ideals, politics, family, friends, drugs, hate-crimes, murder, coming of age, it has a lot in it. A good strong story where even the lesser characters change and evolve by the end of the book no one is the same. Growth is not always pleasant, but necessary. a 6. well written with good strong characters that you grow to like. x.

Rob Thurman - Nightlife, Moonshine, Madhouse

Rob Thurman - Nightlife, Moonshine, Madhouse.
First three in the series, a half-elf - (although the Auphe are more like dark elf/goblins), his human brother (warrior noparriel), and their friends, Puck, a modern Vampire, an oracle. The first is a bit rough, but the writing gets better as it goes. The plots are good, adventure/mystery in the modern world with hidden monsters, compares favorably with Jim Butcher. an 8 the series.

Donna Jo Napoli - Beast

An interesting retelling of the Beauty & the Beast story, with the Beast a persian noble. Touted as both Exotic (& Erotic but I think that was a typo), and a young adult novel. Overload of middle eastern in the first chapter, but once that is out of the way, it's smooth and quick. Persia to India to France, the locals are well drawn. Well written with a sweet ending. a 5, X.

Christopher Stasheff - Saint Vidicon to the Rescue

Touted as more irreverent, when in fact it was rather catholic, but for something that sort of felt like several short stories strung together with a connecting story, it worked pretty well. a 4. Not his best, but not bad. Sort of cyberpunk religion. X.

Julie Kenner - Demon Hunter

Julie Kenner - Demon Hunter series
Carpe Demon
California Demon
Demons are Forever
well done - if Buffy grew up settled down and had kids, then started hunting again. sometimes pushes the romance a bit, but mostly very good stuff.

Alan Dean Foster

Alan Dean Foster - Lost and Found
The Light-years Beneath My Feet
The Candle of Distant Earth.
A trilogy of short novels, a broker Kidnapped by aliens and joined by a modified intelligent dog, travel the universe trying to get home. The ending was sort of bland. There was some fun stuff along the way, but not really much adventure. More a story of personal growth. a 5, X

James Patterson - Maximum Ride

James Patterson - Maximum Ride
Angel Experiment
School's Out --Forever

Andrew Clements - The Report Card

Andrew Clements - The Report Card

Dean Karnazes - Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an all-night runner

Astounding, and gripping. Started flipping through it, and got so hooked I finished it up while supposed to be working.. Very readable, it's almost spiritual - but without any touchy-feely stuff. an 8.

John Levitt - Dog Days

John Levitt - Dog Days. 20080410. Modern fantasy. a bit unpolished much like the early Butcher novels, I was a bit surprized to find it was his 3rd book, it felt more like a first novel. The characters took a bit to develop but the plot went well. Magic structure was a bit simple, but then things were added to flesh it out more. Hook of being a musician who is also magical, but doesn't bother with it much is pretty good. Not bad at all, I was going to say it was a sort of a magic-mystery but it's not really a mystery, more an investigation where they already know who did it mostly. a 6. There's to be a sequel.

Louis Sachar - There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom

Louis Sachar - There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom. R. YA. Not quite what I'd expected from the title, but a good self-redemption story. A little dated, but nothing serious. The class Bully/gross kid
becomes a regular kid and pulls him self out of his hole. Some stuff resonated well, esp the taking pride in being the worst at something. Good analysis of the fear of failure so don't attempt therefore you can't fail. a 6.