In Pursuit of My Own Library

I haven't figured out how I end up in a reading slump yet. Am I reading too many books too quickly, or am I reading too many mediocre books? What I have realized is to get out of the slump I need to read something drastically off the wall. This could be a cozy mystery, non-fiction, or as the case this time, classic literature.  Formal English will knock some sense back into you. While I enjoy modern fiction, I am saddened by the degradation into casual English. We have slowly massaged meanings until a word is no longer used by its definition. And don't even get me started on the mashing of two words into one. I find it ironic that Tarzan of the Apes  is more intellectual than modern fiction.  The Tarzan series is a pulp adventure classic from the turn of the 20th century about a man raised by apes. And absolutely not remotely related to the Disney adaptation. I'm sure you find that to be a surprise. What did surprise me was my enjoyment of the novel. By the end, I was ama...

Not what I had hoped from the series. There were some redeeming qualities to the book, but mostly I was just disappointed. After so much trauma to Thomas and the Gladers, we just end staring into the fading sunset. Just close the book and know nothing of what happens to these people who we have read about nothing but atrocity and extreme mental anguish pour upon them. It was not cathartic in the least. There is a genocide virus on the loose. Scientists have spent years of investment into trial subjects to study their brain patterns in extreme scenarios. The subjects figure out that they are lab rats and rebel. They make a break for it. A wise leader realized the correct way to solve the continuation of the human race and built a fail safe into the program. The end. You have now read the Maze Runner series without all the accompanying frustration and fatigue. You're welcome. A more in-depth review for those wondering why I was so disappointed will now follow. Thomas has survived the...

Because I'm a glutton for punishment I continued on with the series. I was not left completely wanting, but I did find more questions than answers yet again. Is the old maxim third time the charm really true? I truly hope so because I really need some answers to how this series was a bestseller. Sitting pretty in a bunker with comfortable beds, clean clothes, and plenty of food, Thomas and the Gladers are ready to find out why they have been living in a maze for two years. Why they have been modified to remember only the basics of human functionality. Why they have these tattoos on their necks. The frustration is palpable as the reader ends up experiencing it right along with Thomas. Bad news, kids. The testing is not over. The cure is not even close to being formulated, and we have infected you with the humanity genocide virus. You will be thrown out as another trial phase 100% aware we are monitoring you. But you won't know which part are tests and which are just figments of ...

I have been meaning to read this series for a very long time. As usual, newest releases have predominated priority of my TBR pile. Then, I saw the first movie and remembered I wanted to read the books. Still, other authors came out with books to read first. Then, popularity for the series resurged at our library, so I feel now is the time to know what my patrons are requesting. No more excuses.  This novel is clearly geared to the border of middle grade and young adult, with parents being able to read it along with their children feasible. So am I glad that I finally read it? Short answer: Yes. The long version of that answer: I am glad I read it so I can now give an honest opinion to those that ask me about the series.  The pacing of the action is well developed, and you do really wonder who could possibly be doing this to children. The world as a whole, though, is just a touch too unbelievable. This novel balanced on a knife's edge the entire time. I would become highly inve...

Brian McClellan knows how to write military political fiction. I will give him that. The storytelling is absolutely gripping and incredibly well written. There is even a cliffhanger that almost made me throw my Kindle. I want to be able to recommend this novel to everyone, but I just can't. This will have a very niche readership type as it is a mature content novel. Not that it ruins the story, but it just makes me sad when authors feel this is the direction they need to take their stories. This is end times Rome at its most decadent. Everyone is sleeping with everyone else, infiltrated by spies all around, and fighting to the death for entertainment. Entwined through all of this mafia type guild family drama is a top notch murder mystery. Several times I thought I had the answer to only be completely wrong. The actual answer was metaphysical. A new magic concept is introduced where glass is imbued with certain characteristics in the blowing process. When worn on the body, the reso...

In her breakout technothriller, virtual reality expert Kimberly Unger has created the iconic, badass, cyberpunk heroine that we need: Eliza McKay. McKay is a disgraced underground hacker who is just trying to take back her career one dangerous job at a time. But when her latest contract throws her into the middle of a corporate power struggle, she finds herself fighting for her life in both the real and digital worlds. I had really high hopes with that teaser. It pains me to say I was disappointed. This was not a novel that had me compelled to read for hours. I easily found myself able to get distracted from the story. The pacing just did not flow the way I would expect in a thriller. I wasn't gut-wrenched, no pulse pounding, no sweats; simply put, no compulsion to turn the page and find out what happened.  Eliza McKay has been hired by the government that so happily blacklisted her for being a bit too experimental--a plot point where we get plenty of allusions but no actual story-...