Book #54

Blood Oath, by Christopher Farnsworth. Unabridged audio.

I read political thrillers. I read vampire novels. Why would I not read a novel that combines those two aspects?

Nathaniel Cade is a special assistant to the President, a position he has held for a century and a half -- because he is a vampire. He is forced by a blood oath to obey the current President and his specific designee. In this case, that designee is Zach Barrows, who has taken over those duties from former FBI agent William Griffin.

Throw in Dr. Frankenstein, Zombies, and the quest for eternal youth, and you have the outlines of the plot of Blood Oath. There are factions within the President's administration who don't want Cade & Zach to stop the zombies, and who may even be trying to kill the two of them. This worries Zach a lot more than it does Cade, as he is much more killable than the vampire.

Rarely do I read a book just because of the premise, but this one was so compelling -- a vampire on the President's staff -- that I did pick it up on a whim. And I'm glad I did; it moved along quickly, the main characters were developed well, the horror elements were unsettling.

The story here is completed in the main part of the narrative, although an epilogue makes it clear that a sequel is in the works. I worry a bit about that, as there seemed to be a lot thrown into this adventure, and I wonder what is left for Cade to face in further stories, but I will be there to find out.

Longest. Audiobooks. Ever.

In my review of George RR Martin's A Dance With Dragon, I commented that it was the longest audiobook I had ever listened to. I decided to go back and research that assertion, and it turns out that I have listened to a number of long books. Among them are:

1. Atlas Shrugged, 57 hours. I listened to this one in 3 parts from the library, so even though I knew it was long, it didn't stick in my memory as being that long. I actually preferred The Fountainhead more, but am glad I tackled this one.

2. A Dance wih Dragons, 49 hours. Well, it may not have been the longest one I've ever read, but to be fair, it did sort of feel like it was.

3. Gone with the Wind, 49 hours. Another one that was broken into two parts by the library, so it surprised me that this one was in fact this long.

4. The Bear and the Dragon, 46 hours. For a while, Tom Clancy's works had fallen into the pattern of each one being longer than the one before. This one represents the peak of his verbosity. To give him credit, his books do move right along, and I even enjoy the techno-babble description stuff.

5. Don Quixote, 41 hours. This one is here on a technicality, as it includes both Part I and Part II of Cervante's work, which are regularly packaged as a single book. But Part II was released about 5 years after Part I, and even includes references and commentary on the public reaction to Part I. So not only is this the world's first modern novel, it is also the world's first post-modern novel. Anyway, I think it's more appropriate to consider this two books, and book and a sequel. But it's treated as one, so for purposes of this list, I am counting it as one.

6. Anna Karenina, 39 hours. The only of the Russian classics that I've read. Tolstoy is on my long-term list, which would certainly push this one further down the long-book list.

7. Stone of Tears, 39 hours. I am a huge fan of Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series, so I had to make the list long enough to include his longest book. But it's fantasy, so (like Martin), it's supposed to be a long book.

Book #53

Take Time For Paradise, by A. Bartlett Giamatti. Paperback.

A revision of a book that came out shortly after Giamatti's 1989 death, this little work shows off the wide-ranging mind of the man who served a too-brief tenure as Commissioner of Major League Baseball. A Yale professor whose command of language is stunning, this ends up being an impressive melange of philosophy, poetry, and essay.

I say "little" because it takes a foreword and an afterword to get the manuscript over 100 pages. But this does not make for a quick read -- Giamatti takes on big topics, and does so with references to Blake, Shakespeare, and Aristotle. It is a challenge to read, but worth the effort. His meditation on the meaning of "home" in baseball, in the English language, and in literature, is worth the price of admission.

The book is basically three essays or speeches that Giamatti made. He covers the concept of "play" in the modern world, the role of "rules" in sports and in society, and the notion of the sports stadium as a miniature city. Although written more than two decades ago, and by a man from the "Ivory Tower," Giamatti's insights into the relationships between sport, society, and technology are insightful.

Again, not an easy read, but one that is certainly worth the effort.

Disclosure: I received this as an Advanced Reading Copy, from LibraryThing.

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

MY TEASERS:

"As a result, at night, when fully nourished, the subject has the strength of twenty men. Bench press equals four thousand pounds."

From Chapter 16 of Blood Oath, by Christopher Farnsworth. Part politcal thriller, part vampire novel. No. Really.

Book #52

A Dance with Dragons, by George RR Martin. Unabridged audio.

Wow, that was a long wait. And for it, we got a long book. A really long book.

Yes, I know the first four were long, too, but my recollection is that a lot more happened in those books. This one had just a few events, at least as far as I could tell. There was a wedding, a trial, a revelation or two, and a major character death (which just for the record I don't think is permanent). Martin may have sprinkled in key facts and plot points amongst the rest of the novel, but at this point in the series, I doubt it. The characters and plot are firmly in place, and Martin seems to have a direction in mind for the overall story.

The strength of this book was the atmosphere. Snow is falling, and we are seeing the consequences of Winter coming. He have been warned in prior books that "Winter is coming," but this book finally showed us what this ominous warning may bode for the Seven Kingdoms and her inhabitants. There was a particularly emotional scene of a forced march and siege, and the changing weather had a definite effect on that strategy.

There was certainly some wonderfully-written scenes in here, and Martin has a firm control over his prose. And there were some interesting character moments in this volume, but the lack of major plot advancement disappointed me. But I am still a fan of the series, and my faith in Martin's ability to bring the series to a satisfying close has not been shaken.

I hope the wait for books 6 & 7 aren't as long as the wait for this one is. And perhaps if Martin produces the next manuscripts quicker, there will be a little more time for editing.

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read (audio actually for me)
Open to a random page (audio track)
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

MY TEASERS:

Occasionally they didn't bother with the tent; they just staked her to the ground.
-------------------------------------
"It is unwise to do other than what His Excellency desires."


From disc 15 of 20, of the unabridged version of Soul of the Fire, by Terry Goodkind, a book in the Sword of Truth fantasy epic.

Book #51

A Tale of Two Castles, by Gail Carson Levine. Unabridged audio.

A terrific YA author, Levine is best known for 1997's Ella Enchanted. Levine's latest is a mystery novel, although it does not stray too far from her fantasy works.

Elodie journeys to the town of Two Castles to become a mansioner (actress) but luck is against her, as the rules for becoming an apprentice have changed, and she does not have the money required to gain an apprenticeship. She is saved from starvation by the dragon Meenore, who sells cooked meat skewers in the town square (fire-breathing comes in handy), as well as performing a range of services for the human citizens. Included in these odd-jobs are solving problems and finding things. By demonstrating her wit and charm, Elodie secures a position as the dragon's personal assistant, although her dream to act is still alive within her. The young girl is sent on a dangerous mission inside an ogre's castle, and she finds that her acting skills come in handy in solving a murder and facing down a deadly enemy.

This was a very fun read. All of the main characters are well-drawn and have their own perspectives and voices. The young girl proves to be an interesting narrator, and not always reliable. Levine proves herself to be a skilled mystery writer, with clues dropped in the right places, including a few red herrings. And Meenore and Elodie pull of a solid Holmes-and-Watson routine.