Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

First sentence:

"What about a teakettle?"

Description:

"Meet Oskar Schell, an inventor, Francophile, tambourine player, Shakespearean actor, jeweler, pacifist, correspondent with Stephen Hawking and Ringo Starr. He is nine years old. And he is on an urgent, secret search through the five boroughs of New York. His mission is to find the lock that fits a mysterious key belonging to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11.

An inspired innocent, Oskar is alternately endearing, exasperating, and hilarious as he careens from Central Park to Coney Island to Harlem on his search. Along the way he is always dreaming up inventions to keep those he loves safe from harm. What about a birdseed shirt to let you fly away? What if you could actually hear everyone's heartbeat? His goal is hopeful, but the past speaks a loud warning in stories of those who've lost loved ones before. As Oskar roams New York, he encounters a motley assortment of humanity who are all survivors in their own way. He befriends a 103-year-old war reporter, a tour guide who never leaves the Empire State Building, and lovers enraptured or scorned. Ultimately, Oskar ends his journey where it began, at his father's grave. But now he is accompanied by the silent stranger who has been renting the spare room of his grandmother's apartment. They are there to dig up his father's empty coffin." -- from the publisher

My thoughts:

This was a very moving and complicated book about a boy trying to make sense of the world in his own unique way. I especially liked the alternating storylines between Oskar's search for the lock and his grandparent's experiences in World War II and afterwards. I also liked the use of photographs in the book.

Date read: 10/24/2008
Book #: 76
Rating: 4/5 = great
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 0739458590
ISBN-13: 9780739458594
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Year: 2005
# of Pages: 326
Binding: Trade Paperback
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The Family Trade by Charles Stross

First sentence:

"Ten and a half hours before a mounted knight with a machine gun tried to kill her, tech journalist Miriam Beckstein lost her job."

Description:

"It begins the day she is fired.

Miriam Beckstein is happy in her life. She's a successful reporter for a hi-tech magazine in Boston, making good money doing what she loves. When her researcher brings her iron-clad evidence of a money-laundering scheme, Miriam thinks she's found the story of the year. But when she takes it to her editor, she's fired on the spot and gets a death threat from the criminals she has uncovered.

Before the day is over, she's received a locket left by the mother she never knew-the mother who was murdered when she was an infant. Within is a knotwork pattern, which has a hypnotic effect on her. Before she knows it, she's transported herself to a parallel Earth, a world where knights on horseback chase their prey with automatic weapons, and where world-skipping assassins lurk just on the other side of reality - a world where her true family runs things." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this book of parallel worlds as Miriam discovers the truth about her mother and learns about a family she never knew. I liked how she uses her skills as a journalist to uncover secrets and I look forward to reading the next book in the Merchant Princes series, The Hidden Family.

Date read: 10/19/2008
Book #: 75
Challenges: Celebrate the Author Challenge, Fall into Reading Challenge 2008
Series: The Merchant Princes #1
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: SF

ISBN-10: 0765348217
ISBN-13: 9780765348210
Publisher: Tor
Year: 2005
# of Pages: 308
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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Emerald Enigma by C. J. Westwick

First sentence:

"Why the hell did I think some guy was following me?"

Description:

"Disasters seem to follow Bret Lamplighter around the Caribbean. His simple assignment of follow-the-emeralds changes drastically when he has to tackle government corruption, terrorists run amuck, and elegant organized crime lords. Author C. J. Westwick throws both his hero and his audience into situations as immediate as the day's headlines and starts shooting.

So, grab a bag of techno-goodies and a gorgeous French secret agent; you're heading out to the beach and on into the jungle. Bret Lamplighter's looking for the emeralds. The killers are looking for Bret. The clock is ticking. . .

At least Bret thinks it's just a clock." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This book was an engaging thriller with lots of twists and turns. I liked the sense of being in the thick of adventure with Bret and his friends, especially the scenes on the boat in Colombia.

Date read: 10/19/2008
Book #: 74
Challenges: Fall into Reading Challenge 2008, Initials Reading Challenge, Unread Authors Challenge
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Thriller

ISBN-10: 0977600904
ISBN-13: 9780977600908
Publisher: Krell
Year: 2006
# of Pages: 344
Binding: Hardcover
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Broken Angels by Richard K. Morgan

First sentence:

"I first met Jan Schneider in a Protectorate orbital hospital, three hundred meters above the ragged clouds of Sanction IV and in a lot of pain."

Description:

"Cynical, quick-on-the-trigger Takeshi Kovacs, the ex-U.N. envoy turned private eye, has changed careers -- and bodies -- once more. . .trading sleuthing for soldiering as a warrior-for-hire, and helping a far-flung planet's government put down a bloody revolution.

But, when it comes to taking sides, the only one Kovacs is ever really on is his own. So when a rogue pilot and a sleazy corporate fat cat offer him a lucrative role in a treacherous treasure hunt, he's only too happy to go AWOL with a band of resurrected soldiers of fortune. All that stands between them and the ancient alien spacecraft they mean to salvage are a massacred city bathed in deadly radiation, unleashed nanotechnology with a million ways to kill, and whatever surprises the highly advanced Martian race may have in store. But armed with his genetically engineered instincts and his trusty twin Kalashnikovs, Takeshi is ready to take on anything -- and let the dead take whoever's left behind. " -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this cyberpunk adventure featuring Takeshi Kovacs. While it was confusing at times remembering who was who and where they were, I liked the mix of artificial intelligence and human interactions. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, Woken Furies.

Date read: 10/12/2008
Book #: 73
Series: Takeshi Kovacs, #2
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: SF

ISBN-10: 0345457714
ISBN-13: 978034545771?
Publisher: Del Rey
Year: 2003
# of Pages: 366
Binding: Trade Paperback
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The Devil's Right Hand by Lilith Saintcrow

Description:

"Dante Valentine, Necromancer and bounty hunter, just wants to be left alone. But the Devil has other ideas.

The Prince wants Dante. And he wants her now. And Dante and her lover, Japhrimel, have no choice but to answer the Prince's summons. And to fulfill a seemingly simple task: become the Devil's Right Hand, hunt down four demons that have escaped from Hell, and earn His gratitude.

It's a shame that nothing is ever easy when it comes to the Devil. Because of course, he doesn't tell Dante the whole truth: there is a rebellion brewing in Hell. And there is a good chance that Lucifer is about to be pushed off the throne.

But Dante is getting really tired of being pushed around. And this time, she might be angry enough to take on the Devil himself..."

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this urban fantasy featuring necromancer/bounty hunter Dante Valentine. I especially liked the way she worked with Japhrimel and others to find the renegade demons in time. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, Saint City Sinners.

Date read: 10/6/2008
Book #: 72
Series: Dante Valentine, #3
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Urban Fantasy

ISBN-10: 0316021423
ISBN-13: 9780316021425
Publisher: Orbit
Year: 2007
# of Pages: 432
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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Spoken Here: Travels Among Threatened Languages by Mark Abley

First sentence:

"An old man watches a milky ocean roll in to the shore."

Description:

"Mark Abley's journeys among the speakers of languages at the brink take him to aboriginal Austalia, to American Indian reservations and to elderly Canadian speakers of Yiddish, as well as to places where the languages are fighting back: Wales, the Faeroe Islands, the Isle of Man. He examines the forces - from pop culture to creoles to globalisation - that threaten to wipe out 90 per cent of languages by the end of this century. And he pays tribute to such unfamiliar tongues as the Amazonian language last spoken by a parrot, the Caucasion language with no vowels, and the South Asian language whose innumerable verbs include gobray (to fall in a well unknowingly) and onsra (to love for the last time)." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was a very interesting book about language and culture. I especially liked the chapters about the Isle of Man and the Yuchi Indians.

Date Read: 10/5/2008
Book #: 71
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Nonfiction

ISBN-10: 009946022X
ISBN-13: 9780099460220
Publisher: Arrow Books Ltd
Year: 2005
# of Pages: 280
Binding: Trade Paperback
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