Mystery Book # 40 - The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart

I'm trying to remember exactly when I started reading The Circular Staircase... maybe July? August? Anyway it took forever and it is actually a fairly short book. I started out enjoying it but I probably stretched the reading time out too long so that by the end I didn't care when the mystery was solved. So let's say B-. So lesson learned - don't read a book solely in 10 minute increments once a week.

Horror Book # 23 The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson

So The Amityville Horror tries to call itself a non-fiction book. I don't think anyone can actually believe that though... but still it was a fairly good read. I'd say it rates a B. Maybe go with the movie though... The "true story" follows the Lutz family as they move into a home which was the site of a horrible murder. The main reason that it doesn't seem believable is that the family stays in the house far too long! Once people start levitating I'd be out of there! 

Sci-Fi Book # 32 - The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein

Do you ever read something that is highly acclaimed and you totally do not get why? That's my experience with The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Maybe to me the story wasn't that interesting and the characters not engaging enough. After a while it seemed to just be a forum for the author's political beliefs. It makes me think that when I finally get around to re-reading Stranger in a Strange Land I may not love it the way I did as a teenager. C

Horror Book # 26 - Books of Blood Volume 5 by Clive Barker

Yep, I'm still slowly making my way through the Books of Blood series. I think this collection might be a bit better than some of the previous volumes. I enjoyed each of the four stories and unlike last time, I actually read most of them in just one sitting. As a whole I'm surprised at how much I like the stories in this series. A-

Horror Book # 47 - The Running Man (The Bachman Books # 4) by Stephen King

So yeah I skipped one of the Bachman books and went right to The Running Man. I had read somewhere that it was set in 2019 so I figured now would be a good time to read it... but as it turns out the movie is set in 2019 and the book 2025.  Regardless, I enjoyed the book- it was a nice quick fun read. It was pretty much what I expected - set in a dystopian future a guy has to survive a reality game show in which he is being hunted down. It may not be great literature but I was entertained. B+

Book # 76 - For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway

Generally I've enjoyed the Hemingway books I've read but as for For Whom the Bell Tolls I could take it or leave it. The story is about a guy on a mission to blow up a bridge during the Spanish Civil War. My biggest gripe is that it takes forever to get from the setting up of the premise to the actual destruction of the bridge. It is basically 400 pages of waiting around and planning. I did like the very end of the book though. Let's say this gets a B.

Sci-Fi Book # 17- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

I know I saw the movie 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea as a kid... probably a few times... but while reading this book I realized I remember nothing at all about it other than the giant squid attack. Well, I enjoyed the book. It wasn't quite what I was expecting. There really wasn't that much conflict in the story, probably because the narrator pretty much enjoys his time as Nemo's captive and is having a good time. But it was still a fun read other than the numerous digressions about the different types of fish seen on the voyage. A-

Book # 42 - Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Somehow I managed to read the shortest book in the longest possible time. Really, Of Mice and Men should be read in one sitting. Two tops. Yet I took a month. But now that I'm caught up on watching GOT I can start reading a bit more now (hopefully). And as everyone should already now, this book is great. A.

Elevation by Stephen King

Somehow I took over a month to read a book that should probably be read in an hour and a half. Calling Elevation a novel is being pretty loose with the term "novel". Chalk up this decrease in reading to my effort to catch up on Game of Thrones - the show not the books.

So what to say about this book? It was okay - really it is so short it didn't leave much impression. It is about a guy that starts losing weight but not mass. Why is never explained and the ending is pretty much what I expected. And there is a bit of a theme of acceptance of others thrown in there too. Let's say B-.

Book # 21 - Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Well, after finishing Crime and Punishment I'm finally 3/4 of the way through the original 100 books. Maybe in a couple years I'll actually finish the list... Anyway, I enjoyed the book for the most part. Maybe one of the biggest difficulties in reading it was all the Russian names.... they're so confusing sometimes. The story follows a young man Raskolnikov as he plans a murder and afterward as the consequences play on his psyche. I liked that part but there were just too many characters that weren't directly involved or had their own plots going on too. Plus I don't get why Sonya is so loyal to this guy that she just met and is a confessed murderer. B+

Mystery Book # 1 The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - The Hound of the Baskervilles (Book 5 of 9)

Well it was nice to read something much much shorter... I don't really have much to say about The Hound of the Baskervilles. I've always enjoyed Sherlock Holmes and this is probably the best one so far. I can't believe it has been so long since I read the previous Holmes book. Time flys... A

Horror Book # 35 - Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon

Well that sure took a while... I first picked up Swan Song way back on the first days of October 2018. The MLB playoffs had not yet begun, Venom was soon to be released in theaters and I started considering a Halloween costume. Now four months later I put down Swan Song and it feels weird to not have it as the book I'm currently reading.

Swan Song is a pretty good (if long) end of the world story. Why did it end? The book is from the 80's so of course it is a nuclear war between the US and the Soviet Union. I enjoyed the adventures of the survivors and how they have to learn to survive in a whole new world... just my one qualm is that none of the characters ever once discuss leaving the country. They spend the whole book traveling across the US which is a nuclear wasteland and never seem to consider that it might be better if they traveled to South America or something.

Wow, I can't believe I spent four months on this... and I really did read it most days too (albeit usually not for very long). Let's say A-.