books cont'd part 2

rediscovered this blog while thinking about make a blog about the weather. Read Under the Dome and the Scar. Under the Dome wasn't anything to write home about, though the audio book helped a lot on a solo car ride to San Jose and back. Stephen King writes small town America circa 1940-1985 really well. 2010? Not so well. But just when I thought I'd given up reading Stephen King's new material he anounces a new Dark Tower novel. Sigh.

China Mieville on the other hand hasn't dissapointed. The Scar was something of a marathon of a book, not so much for length as for pacing, the plot was kinda Moby Dickish. However, it may have been the most thought provoking novel I've read...ever? Little Daniel says that Perdido Street Station was good but too academic for fun reading, but the Scar makes Perdido Street look like the next Roland Emmerich film. Don't get me wrong, Perdido Street is probably still my favorite Mieville novel, but the Scar took thought provocation to a new level.

Haven't gotten around to the Desert Spear yet, though it's on my to do list. Here's my list of books I'm hoping to finish next:

1. Timeline, Michael Crichton. 200 pages in, fast-paced, well researched. Not too academic for fun reading.

2. The Passage, Justin Cronin. 80ish pages in, slow paced, litereary novel, vampire apocalypse.

3. King Rat, China Mieville. 20ish pages in, medium paced, modern fairy tale horror. Mieville's debut novel.

4. The Unremebered; Vault of Heaven book 1, Peter Orullian. 12% in on Kindle, Tolkien-esque high fantasy, good concept, poorly executed, probably lost me already.

Looking forward to Embassytown, Mieville's newest, though I like to stagger a (few) lighter books between Mieville novels, also Dance with Dragons is coming out this year, so I'll probably get to that sooner than I'd like.