February 1-7 Reading List

Despite missing a day due to bronchitis, I didn't really find as much time to read this week as I had in previous weeks. Still, averaging a book a day isn't too shabby, right?

34 Brian Evenson, Dark Property - This 1994 short novel by Evenson is hard to sum up in a few words. It was strange, intense, and the words had this biting edge to them. Will need to re-read it sometime before I could ever think of attempting a review. All I know is that there's this haunting image in my mind of a woman carrying a rucksack around. Good stuff.

35 Will Elliott, The Pilo Family Circus - This book will be released in the US next month. Likely will review it around then. Clowns freak me out and this story was freaky in a mostly-good sense of the term.

36 Patrick Ness, The Knife of Never Letting Go - Decided to read this book after Martin Lewis praised it very highly in a comment in my 2008 YA List. Will review it either tomorrow or sometime during the week, but I can say that I suggest people take his recommendation (and now mine) to go out and read this. Damn good read, one of the most moving in this young year so far.

37 Neil Gaiman, The Sandman: A Game of You - Fifth volume in The Sandman series. Good, dark story, even if it's not my favorite volume. Still need to get the remaining volumes sometime in the future.

38 Brian Evenson, The Open Curtain - This 2006 novel that references a real-life mystery surrounding the grandson of Brigham Young has a twist to it that, while a recurring element in Evenson's stories - or at least the ones I've read to date, ought to be surprising and challenging for readers who like mysteries that are a bit off the beaten path. Highly recommended read.

39 Jim Theis, The Eye of Argon - This legendary novella was so bad that it was a hilariously fun read because of all its misuses of words. The phrase "lustful orbs" has now entered into the realm of private jokes between me and a certain someone, so perhaps others will be tempted to read it with others, so they too can have a bonding experiences via one of the worst-written stories to ever circulate in recent decades?

40 Kay Kenyon, City Without End - I plan on reviewing this in a week or two. This third volume in The Entire and the Rose quartet maintains the level of suspense and character development of the second volume, A World Too Near, even if it suffers from the usual middle volume syndrome of having to juggle plotlines without there ever being a true resolution.


In Progress:

Carlos Ruiz Zafón, El palacio de la medianoche

Ernesto "Che" Guevara, Diarios de Motocicleta: Notas de viaje por América Latina


Future Plans:

David Moody, Hater

Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Las luces de septiembre

James P. Blaylock, Knights of the Cornerstone

Nick Harkaway, The Gone-Away World

Nicole Kornher-Stace, Desideria

Roland Topor, The Tenant