Sci-Fi Book # 19 & Horror Book # 68 - The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells

Unlike Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells tells the story of a man who is literally invisible. One day a small inn takes in a man completely covered in bandages. At first everyone assumes that the man has had some kind of accident. After some unusual crimes people become suspicious and the invisible man's secret gets out.

Much like Wells' War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man shows normal people encountering something that seems unbelievable and the result is panic.  I enjoy Wells' style and can imagine how groundbreaking his work was when it was published. This one gets an A.

Book # 7 - The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings Book 1 of 3) by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Lord of the Rings is a book that most people are already familiar with... so there isn't a need to recap the story. There's Frodo and the ring, Gandalf the Wizard, Gollum, Aragorn... etc.

This will be the third time that I've read this book and after reading The Fellowship of the Ring it the most enjoyable time so far. There is just so much information throughout the book that Tolkien just casually throws out there that it can be hard to take it all in on a first (or second reading). Seeing the films multiple times also helps. This is a book meant to be read several times... and it is well worth it. There will always be new details to be picked up.

Did I mention that this is one of my favorite books of all time? The first book gets an A+.

Mystery Book # 36 - Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers

While reading Strong Poison I knew that it was part of a series of books... what I just now realized is that FIVE of those books are on my mystery reading list. The series follows Lord Peter Wimsey, a British gentleman that solves mysteries in his spare time. In this book he is following the case of Harriet Vane, a woman accused of poisoning her ex-boyfriend. He believes that she is innocent and sets out to solve the case before Harriet is convicted... and he also falls in love with her.

The book was entertaining. Maybe I'd have liked it more if I didn't start with a book from the middle of the series. It reminded me of one of those Masterpiece Mysteries that Lucinda is always watching. It is definitely very British. I'm glad I enjoyed it since there are four more books on this list. I'll give it a B+.

Book # 48 Remembrance of Things Past (Part 4 of 7)- Cities of the Plain by Marcel Proust

Volume one of Remembrance of Things Past was great. Volume two was entertaining and moving. Volume three started to get on my nerves but was still worth reading. Volume four was tough... and took me a year to slowly get through. All I can say is that it is incredibly boring.

In Cities of the Plain the Narrator has become a part of French high society and attends a lot of parties. And he details all of the people me meets and their snobbish behaviors in great great detail for hundreds of pages. Probably three quarters of the book is just his descriptions of some gathering of people gossiping about other people (and it isn't a short book either). As for the other quarter of the book, I actually enjoyed it when the Narrator talked about his evolving feelings about his friend Albertine and his thoughts on random stuff in life.

It is kind of hard to give this one a grade. Some parts are incredibly well written and beautiful... but most of it is snobby French people talking about other snobby French people. I guess a B-. It makes me think that anyone that lists Remembrance of Things Past as the greatest book ever written is a bit pretentious. Also, the book mentions Don Quixote and Anna Karenina

Book # 104 - Perfume by Patrick Suskind

According to Wikipedia, Perfume inspired songs by both Nirvana and Rammstein. I also saw where someone compared it to a mix of Victor Hugo and Anne Rice. I'd say that seems accurate since it reminded me of both Les Miserables and Interview with the Vampire at times.

Perfume tells the story of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, an 18th Century French orphan that is born with an acute sense of smell  but no personal scent. Of course the life of an 18th century orphan isn't easy and Grenouille is a pretty strange guy... so the story gets a bit weird. One day while walking around Paris he smells a young woman and becomes obsessed with her odor... so much so that he kills her and just keeps sniffing her body. From there he decides to learn how to be a perfume maker so that he can replicate her scent. This leads to a lot more deaths and perfume making.

I didn't know what to expect from this book... but I really loved it. It is just so unusual and the story takes a few unexpected turns along the way. The book has a fun pulpy feel to it and is full of interesting characters. Plus Suskind goes overboard on describing the different scents of things throughout the book... which only adds to its strangeness. I give it an A and recommend it to any of my friends that listen to Nirvana or Rammstein.