Book # 25 - Beloved by Toni Morrison

I'm always a bit excited to read a book that I know absolutely nothing about, and that was the case with Beloved by Toni Morrison. It turns out that it is actually a bit of a ghost story... The story is about Sethe, a former runaway slave, and her daughter Denver. One day a young woman shows up on their doorstep and all evidence makes it seem as if this woman is actually Sethe's other daughter that she killed as a young child. The whole story is tragic and has multiple layers... so I can see why it gets assigned in English Literature classes. Overall I enjoyed it, A-. 

The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King

Well to get through The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla I had to check it out FIVE times! I'm not sure why it took me so long. I mean I think I finished Infinite Jest in less time. Probably a combination of a bunch of factors... needing to take a break from reading, being burnt out on Dark Tower books, moving, etc. Also it doesn't help that it is a really long book in which not much happens.

So in this volume Roland and his ka-tet get sidetracked on their quest into a Seven Samurai type situation. Now this takes up most of the space in the book and is incredibly boring... mostly because the people they're trying to protect aren't that interesting and most of the time is spent just waiting until the end for the bad guys show up. And once they do show up Roland and company have no problem dispatching them. There's no suspense here. There are a couple of subplots that advance the story but they're left unresolved for the next book.

Also, check out this cover... the bad guys look like Doctor Doom with a lightsaber... and that's exactly how a character describes them. Which in theory should be cool but here it really isn't. They end up being so lame.

Now if I remember correctly, the following list books are mentioned: Tess of the D'Ubervilles, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Ulysses, Harry Potter and Invisible Man. C+

Book #13 - Animal Farm by George Orwell

Hmmm... not really sure what to say about Animal Farm. I did enjoy it but it is so short that I feel like I really didn't spend that much time absorbing it. Sure it is an obvious allegory to Soviet Russia but it is still relevant to today's politics. The sheep with their "four feet good, two feet bad" refrain remind me of the type of people that are always yelling "Fake News". You know, like Catch-22, maybe I would have enjoyed this book more if I had read it before a certain short fingered vulgarian was put in charge. A-

Horror Book # 9 & Mystery Book # 100 - Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin

One of the oddities on the Mystery Book list is that it actually lists two books at number 100. What I think makes it even weirder is that one of those books is Rosemary's Baby which isn't what I would consider a "mystery". I had read this before and it was still enjoyable the second time. Between the film and the book I'd give the edge to the film (which is very faithful to the book). Maybe because seeing Rosemary's distress when she figures everything out is more shocking than just reading about it. Still I'd recommend the book. A-

The Secret History of Twin Peaks by Mark Frost

I'm not quite sure how I feel about this book... Let me explain - The Secret History of Twin Peaks is presented as a recovered "dossier" that was compiled by a mysterious author and is then annotated by an FBI agent investigating it. And on the surface it is fairly interesting for Twin Peaks fans but hardly essential. A good portion of it is dedicated to fleshing out the back story of some of the weirdness that goes on in the woods there... such as a long chapter about Lewis and Clark first arriving there and meeting the local Native Americans and another long digression into Roswell and UFO sightings in the area. Plus a very minor character from the show is given an extensive back story and is shown to be a major player in previous events in the area. SO that's all well and good. BUT for some reason there are inconsistencies between the events as explained in the book and as shown on television. The first major one I noticed was the story of how Big Ed and Nadine ended up together. Totally different in this book versus the show. And I thought it was weird how Norma's family history seemed to totally leave out that she had a sister. SO I looked this up online and found that everyone who reads it has found different inconsistencies. Someone even compiled a spreadsheet of them all!  Like the book says Norma's mom died a few years before the events on the show... but her mom was a character on the show! And the book says Windom Earle shot Cooper when in actuality he stabbed him. The list is so long it seems like they must have been on purpose. I mean the guy who wrote the book wrote most of the tv show... so something is going on...  So I'll give it a B- for now, but if later on if this all makes sense maybe I'll raise it. Also it mentions Charlotte's Web, Catch-22, The Stand, and To Kill a Mockingbird.

The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer by Jennifer Lynch

Given that The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer is a twenty five year old media tie-in novel, I've gotta say that it holds up quite well. I'll say this as a compliment... but it was kind of hard to read it for extended amounts of time because it is just so weird, sad and creepy. So if I'm keeping in mind that this was a quickly produced book to tie in with a tv show I'll have to give it an A-. Like whenever Laura would include BOB's words in her diary it was just really creepy and made it scarier than some Stephen King novels. It far exceeded my expectations.

Sci-Fi Book # 18 - Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Even though Flowers for Algernon ended pretty much the way I thought it would, I found the journey very enjoyable and quite moving. The story follows a mentally handicapped man named Charlie that partakes in an experimental procedure that vastly increases his IQ. I guess I should try and not give too much away but the whole story just gets sadder and sadder. The fact that he reads The Great Gatsby and An American Tragedy should count as foreshadowing. I'll give it an A.

And with that I'm now half way though the top 50 Science Fiction book list... Here are my rankings:

1. Dune
2. The War of the Worlds
3. 1984
4. The Time Machine
5. The Martian Chronicles
6. Ender's Game
7. Frankenstein
8. The Handmaid's Tale
9. The Invisible Man
10. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
11. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
12. 2001
13. Flowers for Algernon
14. Brave New World
15. The Stand
16. Cat's Cradle
17. Foundation
18. Fahrenheit 451
19. The Martian
20. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
21. The Andromeda Strain
22. I, Robot
23. Jurassic Park
24. Snow Crash
25. The Mote in God's Eye