Sunday, July 26, 2009

Dead City by Joe McKinney

First sentence:

"There's an empty parking lot near the corner of Seafarer and Rood where I used to go to fight with my wife."


Description:

"Battered by five cataclysmic hurricanes in three weeks, the Texas Gulf Coast and half of the Lone Star State is reeling from the worst devastation in history. Thousands are dead or dying - but the worst is only beginning. Amid the wreckage, something unimaginable is happening: a deadly virus has broken out, returning the dead to life - with an insatiable hunger for human flesh...Within hours, the plague has spread all over Texas. San Antonio police officer Eddie Hudson finds his city overrun by a voracious army of the living dead. Along with a small group of survivors, Eddie must fight off the savage horde in a race to save his family...There's no place to run. No place to hide. The Zombie horde is growing as the virus runs rampant. Eddie knows he has to find a way to destroy these walking horrors...but he doesn't know the price he will have to pay." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

While the battle scenes got to be repetitive after a while, I enjoyed this horror book about a virus which turned people into zombies. I only wish that the zombie portion ended earlier in the book so that the story would move onto how Eddie and others dealt with the aftermath.

Date read: 7/25/2009
Book #: 39
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Horror

ISBN-10: 0786917813
ISBN-13: 9780786017812
Publisher: Pinnacle
Year: 2006
# of Pages: 288
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing Page

Saturday, July 11, 2009

The Climb Up to Hell by Jack Olsen

First sentence:

"Fritz von Almen, thirty-nine years old, serious of mien, conservative of dress, walked onto a tiny side porch of his family's hotel, 6,700 feet up in the Swiss Alps, and sat in front of a swivel-mounted pair of binoculars aimed at a towering mountain wall across the meadows."

Description:

"The north wall of the Eiger Mountain in the Bernese Alps has longed fascinated the world's best mountain climbers. Almost every attempt to conquer it has resulted in defeat or disaster.

Once again in print, this is the story of the tragic 1957 ordeal on the Eiger Mountain's north wall -- the classic account of one of the most awesome drams in mountaineering history." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was a very interesting book about the 1957 rescue of Claudio Corti from the north wall of Mt. Eiger. The descriptions of the climb and the rescue were very good and I could imagine being there myself.

Date read: 7/10/2009
Book #: 38
Challenges: 999 Challenge, Non-Fiction Five Challenge 2009, Celebrate the Author Challenge 2009
Rating: 3*/5 = Good
Genre: Nonfiction

ISBN-10: 0312194501
ISBN-13: 9780312194505
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Year: 1962
# of Pages: 212
Binding: Trade Paperback
LibraryThing Page

Friday, July 10, 2009

Renfield: Slave of Dracula by Barbara Hambly

First sentence:

"I've filled many notebook pages and scraps of paper with these daily reckonings."

Description:

"Renfield -- confined to an asylum -- obsesses in his diary, pens letters of insane passion to his wife, and still answers his Master's calling. Ordered to hunt and kill Van Helsing, Renfield complies, setting the stage for the ultimate battle between good and evil, the living and the dead. It will take him from the dark crypt of Dracula's castle to the more personal darkness of his own descent into madness, and the shocking truth of where it all began." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this book which looked at the events described in Bram Stoker's Dracula from Renfield's, John Seward's and Van Helsing's point of view. I especially liked the interactions between Renfield and Dracula's wives.

Date read: 7/9/2009
Book #: 37
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Horror

ISBN-10: 0425217892
ISBN-13: 9780425217894
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 2006
# of pages: 291
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing Page

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

In Their Shoes Reading Challenge

In Their Shoes Reading Challenge

When: January 1 - December 31, 2009
What: Read memoirs, biographies, autobiographies







My list:

Gipsy Moth Circles the World by Sir Francis Chichester

First sentence:

"This is a fairy story for me."

Description:

"Here is a magnificent book to match a magnificent venture -- Sir Francis Chichester's personal account of the extraordinary feat that captured the imagination of the world. Told in his own colorful words and illustrated with his own photographs, some taken by remote control of himself in action, the book literally takes the reader aboard the Gipsy Moth IV throughout the entire fabulous voyage." -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

Sir Francis Chichester tells a fascinating and detailed story of his historic solo circumnavigation via the Southern Oceans. From day to day, with changes in the weather and the boat's responses to it, there were plenty of surprises both good and bad. I enjoyed reading this book very much.

Date read: 7/7/2009
Book #: 36
Challenges: 999 Challenge, In Their Shoes Challenge, Non-Fiction Five Challenge 2009
Rating: 4*/5
Genre: Memoir

Publisher: Coward-McCann, Inc.
Year: 1967
# of pages: 222
Binding: Hardcover
LibraryThing page