Brad’s books on Goodreads (2,656 books) (original) (raw)
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| | # | cover | title | author | isbn | isbn13 | asin | pages | rating | ratings | pub | (ed.) | rating | my rating | review | notes | | comments | votes | count | started | read | added
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| title Burning Chrome | author Gibson, William | isbn 0441089348 | isbn13 9780441089345 | asin 0441089348 | num pages 191pp | avg rating 4.06 | num ratings 41,821 | date pub Apr 1986 | date pub edition 1995 | Brad's rating really liked it | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review Is it okay, do you think, to say I find William Gibson's cycle of short stories, Burning Chrome, to be a work of profound beauty? Probably not, but I' Is it okay, do you think, to say I find William Gibson's cycle of short stories, Burning Chrome, to be a work of profound beauty? Probably not, but I'm going to say it anyway: Burning Chrome is beautiful.But how can it be? How can something like the Sprawl, Gibson's pollution choked mega-city, and our shared technological-future-nightmare be beautiful? My description suggests it can't, yet I find much beauty in Gibson's future. There's something magnificent about monomolecular wires and Razorgirl fingernails, something profound about the rejection of a sterile utopia for a filthy sprawl, something thrilling about dreamy future-noir, something tragic about the thirst to belong for even the most peripheral people, something eerily familiar in the desire to offer the ultimate sacrifice, something nostalgic about the Soviet era trappings that are long gone, something terrifying in the prescient vision of corporate power, something hopeful in the concept of future immortality, something touching in its melancholy, and something comfortable about improvements that can't hide a classic love story of the "if-you-love-her-let-her-go" kind.Well...I'm a guy who loves the magnificent the profound the thrilling the tragic the familiar the nostalgic the terrifying the hopeful the touching and the comfortable. I find all of them beautiful. And if those aren't beautiful enough for you, consider this: Burning Chrome coins the word "cyberspace." William Gibson imagined it, and computer geeks made it. Can you beat that for beautiful? ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 4 | votes 46 | # times read 3 | date started not set not set not set | date read May 15, 1995 not set not set | date added Apr 14, 2025 | owned | format Mass Market Paperback | actions view (with text) | | | |
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| title The Wall of Winnipeg and Me | author Zapata, Mariana * | isbn | isbn13 | asin B01CDDTGRY | num pages 475pp | avg rating 4.17 | num ratings 295,000 | date pub Feb 28, 2016 | date pub edition Feb 28, 2016 | Brad's rating | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review None | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 0 | # times read 0 | date started not set | date read not set | date added Jan 08, 2025 | owned | format Kindle Edition | actions view | | | |
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| title Fitting for a Lady | author Kidd, Winton | isbn | isbn13 | asin B0D6RDMC2H | num pages 0pp | avg rating 5.00 | num ratings 3 | date pub unknown | date pub edition Jun 16, 2024 | Brad's rating it was amazing | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review Dear Winton,Thank you for the eroticagasm. Thank you for your glorious art.Thank you for your naughty mind.Thank you for your far reaching fantasies.T Dear Winton,Thank you for the eroticagasm. Thank you for your glorious art.Thank you for your naughty mind.Thank you for your far reaching fantasies.Thank you for art that arouses. Thank you for being you. Please keep doing what you do. Love, Brad ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 3 | # times read 1 | date started Dec 10, 2024 | date read Dec 11, 2024 | date added Dec 10, 2024 | owned | format Kindle Edition | actions view (with text) | | | |
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| title Blood and Circuses(Phryne Fisher, #6) | author Greenwood, Kerry | isbn | isbn13 | asin B0DM1FPV2F | num pages 10pp | avg rating 3.83 | num ratings 7,222 | date pub Jan 01, 1994 | date pub edition Feb 02, 2012 | Brad's rating it was ok | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review Nowhere near my favourite Phryne Fisher story, I have to admit I struggled my way through Blood and Circuses a little bit. Luckily there was an interv Nowhere near my favourite Phryne Fisher story, I have to admit I struggled my way through Blood and Circuses a little bit. Luckily there was an interview with Kerry Greenwood following my audio listen, and what she had to say about the shift of milieu for Ms. Fisher won me over, at least in the long term. Blood and Circuses takes Phryne Fisher away from her more comfortable society and into the bosom of a travelling circus, populated with the usual "freaks," clowns, animal tamers and "gypsies," with the addition of some truly unsavoury scum who provide all the danger. There are really two mysteries at work in Blood and Circuses -- one is a murder mystery (which I found myself truly invested in) and the other is what Phryne was brought in to investigate: the ongoing sabotage of the circus. Getting to the solutions of these mysteries, however, just weren't as fun for me as they usually are. Still on display was Phryne and her indomitable spirit, still on display was her love of love and lovemaking, still on display was danger and Australian colour, but there were elements that kept me from becoming truly invested. If I am being honest, I just don't like circuses, and that environment is so out of joint for Phryne, that I found myself hoping Blood and Circuses would end. And a reader never wants to feel that way, especially if they have affection for the protagonist. And yes ... when it was over I was glad.Which brings me back to the interview with Kerry Greenwood. She tells us in the interview that moving Phryne to a circus was a deliberate act for Greenwood herself. When she started her sixth book in the series, she came to something of a crossroads. She wondered if there was room for growth where Phryne was concerned, or was she, as Agatha Christie's detectives seem to be, fully formed and simply a flat character with a set of skills that are used time and again to solve a new crime, where the crime itself is all that differs, and the character never changes. So she dropped Phryne somewhere unique to her, and discovered that Phryne did have room to grow (and that her skill set could always expand).When I heard that, I found myself nodding and thinking, "Well done, Kerry." It didn't make me enjoy Blood and Circuses any more than I did when I was listening, but it did make me appreciate it more. I have a feeling it's going to pay off in the novels still to come. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 6 | # times read 1 | date started Nov 2024 | date read Nov 16, 2024 | date added Nov 16, 2024 | owned | format Audible Audio | actions view (with text) | | | |
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| title Nightmare in Pink(Travis McGee, #2) | author MacDonald, John D. | isbn 0812983955 | isbn13 9780812983951 | asin 0812983955 | num pages 224pp | avg rating 3.91 | num ratings 9,226 | date pub 1964 | date pub edition Feb 12, 2013 | Brad's rating it was amazing | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review Even more than the first time out, I am absolutely baffled that Travis McGee -- John D. MacDonald's most used character -- has only had three unsucces Even more than the first time out, I am absolutely baffled that Travis McGee -- John D. MacDonald's most used character -- has only had three unsuccessful adaptations in the last sixty years. This is stunning for a series that spans twenty-one novels, with crazy cinematic qualities, and is led by a sexy, charismatic, and dangerous protagonist / hero.And Nightmare in Pink is just begging to be made into a film. Imagine a sun-drenched noir, smashed into a 1970s' style erotic thriller, with a creepy as f*%k Bond villain as the antagonist, all set in New York and its environs, and you've got Nightmare in Pink. I can't say too much more than that without spoiling the awesomeness of this book, but I can tell you I haven't had such a feverish, can't put it down read in a good long time. Plus, I loved Travis McGee, the character, even more this time around. I know these days people are looking to Reacher or Bosch for their tough guy heroes, and some folks are still looking to that old chestnut James Bond, but for my money, Travis McGee and the muscular prose of MacDonald should still be at the front of everyone's book queue.Hollywood, get your shit together and make Travis McGee a priority already. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 2 | votes 8 | # times read 1 | date started Oct 19, 2024 | date read Nov 04, 2024 | date added Nov 12, 2024 | owned | format Paperback | actions view (with text) | | | |
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| title Butcher's Work: True Crime Tales of American Murder and Madness | author Schechter, Harold | isbn | isbn13 | asin B0B8JZBRLS | num pages unknown | avg rating 3.93 | num ratings 330 | date pub Nov 08, 2022 | date pub edition Nov 08, 2022 | Brad's rating really liked it | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review Harold Schechter's approach to True Crime is one to which new writer's of True Crime should aspire. His books are not about the lascivious details, no Harold Schechter's approach to True Crime is one to which new writer's of True Crime should aspire. His books are not about the lascivious details, nor the psychology of those committing the crimes, nor about the "heroic" investigators who've caught a "monster," although those elements do occur in his books; instead, his books are about the history of crime, the history of U.S. crime, and he goes out of his way to contextualize the crimes he covers in their historical moments, using history to reveal something about his nation -- and that something is the way American myth building suggests that their great crimes and criminals of the U.S. are outliers, anomalies, rather than a permanent and far reaching fixture of the nation. Butcher's Work: True Crime Tales of American Murder and Madness takes a fairly infamous era of American criminality -- the era of Leopold and Loeb & Lizzy Borden -- and outlines four villains of that age who all perpetrated just as fantastic and oftentimes bloodier crimes than their famous counterparts, yet their crimes are all but forgotten by the public because they, somehow, failed to ignite the titillating zeitgeist that their more famous brethren achieved. Schechter has argued in other books, and again here in Butcher's Work, that the famous crimes of an era are never actually unique to their era, but that they do tap into whatever a specific era fears most. For Leopold and Loeb & Lizzy Borden, it is the youth rebelling against authority; they represented society's overarching fear of a loss of control of their children. But a travelling con man turned serial killer, a woman poisoning her family / families (also a serial killer) for insurance money, a Bluebeard poisoning a long string of wives (yup, you guessed it: serial killer), also for insurance money, and a psychopathic war hero disposing of his pregnant wife and some homeless collateral damage (not a serial killer, this one) simply to be free of her -- all brutal and sensational crimes -- did not encroach on what society cared most about in that moment. Thus, they are largely forgotten. Schechter does a fine job of illustrating his thesis, and along the way he spices up his history with famous men and women of the period who bump up against these killers, all in the name of historical context. His approach needs to emulated. It elevates True Crime to an academic pursuit worthy of historical analysis, thus reducing the fetishization of murder by making it less about emotion and more about facts. So, if you haven't read Schechter and you love True Crime, it's time to give him a day in court. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 5 | # times read 1 | date started Oct 25, 2024 | date read Nov 2024 | date added Nov 11, 2024 | owned | format Audible Audio | actions view (with text) | | | |
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| title CBS Radio Mystery Theater(Volume 7 - 1975-76) | author Brown, Himan | isbn | isbn13 | asin | num pages unknown | avg rating 3.00 | num ratings 1 | date pub unknown | date pub edition Mar 03, 2019 | Brad's rating liked it | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review As the years stretch on in this collection of fascinating radio dramas, the quality of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater's recordings continues to improve As the years stretch on in this collection of fascinating radio dramas, the quality of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater's recordings continues to improve, and that makes for a much more enjoyable experience. While the audio quality hasn't been a deal breaker in past volumes, it has made some episodes a struggle. That struggle has turned into a minor annoyance now, and it makes it much easier to appreciate the quality of the performances. Indeed, the vocal performances of CBS Radio Mystery Theater's casts make it a delight to return to night after night, and "young" actors keep popping in to take a role or two. One of those "young" stars, who quickly became a regular in the '75-'76 seasons, is Tony Roberts (Annie Hall and Serpico), delivering fine performance after fine performance. Along with stalwarts like Mercedes McCambridge (Giant, Fred Gwynn (The Munsters and My Cousin Vinny), and Mason Adams (the gravelly voiced character acting god), Tony Roberts and other young actors deliver performances that make it easy to get sucked into the tales being spun. And E.G. Marshall (12 Angry Men, the series' narrator, doesn't do too badly himself.I've already started volume 8, and CBS Radio Mystery Theater just gets better and better. Such a shame it wasn't in production right now, today. That is something I would absolutely love. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 4 | # times read 2 | date started Dec 20, 2023 not set | date read Oct 29, 2024 not set | date added Nov 07, 2024 | owned | format Audiobook | actions view (with text) | | | |
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| title Crave | author Llovet, Maria * | isbn 1534397450 | isbn13 9781534397453 | asin 1534397450 | num pages 176pp | avg rating 3.48 | num ratings 623 | date pub unknown | date pub edition Oct 01, 2024 | Brad's rating liked it | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review A fairly interesting mini-series, Crave flirts with dystopic social criticism in the shape of an overreaching "hook-up" app being tested in a privileg A fairly interesting mini-series, Crave flirts with dystopic social criticism in the shape of an overreaching "hook-up" app being tested in a privileged school, while dabbling in some semi erotic artwork and situations. It's an interesting idea, and it's definitely worth a look, but it is all a little too threadbare for my tastes.The dystopian elements -- abuse of privacy data, mass surveillance, low level AI run amok, the ugliness of human nature, etc. -- are plausible, but the characters who move through Maria Llovet's dystopian school aren't given enough room to breathe and become compelling. At six chapters (or issues, since this was published as a comic book series rather than a graphic novel), Llovet didn't have much space to explore her characters, so Crave begins in media res. The app is up and running and shit is already hitting the fan, and our characters are right in the middle of it all. Thus, it is very difficult to empathize with them, or to really have a grasp of who they are and what they want unless they type their desire into the CRAVE system and wait for instructions. This also has a significant impact on the erotic portion of the tale. Without being able to connect with the characters, their mildly erotic couplings are equally difficult to care about. Yet the way Llovet delivers these couplings is one of the stand-out elements of Crave. She doesn't shy away from oral sex, bodily fluids or nudity, but none of these elements are delivered in a way that feels unnatural or gratuitous. They are key components of her story, and they are crafted with frankness and realism. Unfortunately, the excellence of these scenes makes my failure to connect with her characters even more disappointing. Maria Llovet is a talent, there is no denying that. Her visuals are gorgeous, and she has a lot to say. I plan on following her on her journey; I just hope, in the future, she gets the time and space to really let her characters grow and breathe ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 3 | # times read 2 | date started Aug 31, 2024 not set | date read Nov 05, 2024 not set | date added Nov 07, 2024 | owned | format Paperback | actions view (with text) | | | |
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| title A Man's Head(Maigret #5) | author Simenon, Georges | isbn 0141393513 | isbn13 9780141393513 | asin 0141393513 | num pages 176pp | avg rating 3.79 | num ratings 2,605 | date pub 1931 | date pub edition Jan 27, 2015 | Brad's rating liked it | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review Maigret's a wonder.Tenacious puzzle solver.Solid ethicist. Maigret's a wonder.Tenacious puzzle solver.Solid ethicist. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 4 | # times read 1 | date started Nov 05, 2024 | date read Jan 11, 2025 | date added Nov 05, 2024 | owned | format Paperback | actions view (with text) | | | |
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| title Garbage! Monster! Burp! | author Watson, Tom * | isbn 1617922005 | isbn13 9781617922008 | asin B004RCNVWG | num pages 40pp | avg rating 3.75 | num ratings 1,218 | date pub Jan 15, 2010 | date pub edition Jan 15, 2010 | Brad's rating it was ok | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review We were sitting on the patio of a busy restaurant and waiting for the cheque. My little Scoutie was getting seriosuly antsy, so I pulled her out of th We were sitting on the patio of a busy restaurant and waiting for the cheque. My little Scoutie was getting seriosuly antsy, so I pulled her out of the high chair, plopped her in my lap and started reading Garbage Monster Burp. I'd read it to her before and hadn't liked it much, but I'd forgotten to delete it from my iPod, so there it was, ready to keep her busy for a good fifteen minutes.Did it keep her busy? Sort of. It was mostly the iPod that kept her busy and the thrill of flipping the e-pages back and forth. A little bit of it was the voices I put on while reading. I'd be suprised if it was anything else. Garbage Monster Burp tells the story of a big old monster living beneath a pretty town. The townsfolk throw their garbage down the hill for the monster to devour, but he gets fat and develops noxious burps as the town's consumption goes through the roof. The ineffectual mayor does nothing to fix the problem, relying on doublespeak and useless "committee" formation, but the kids of the town figure out that the answer to the question is to reduce their garbage output through recycling. And they get rich doing it. Yay for the kids!My mother-in-law may not have heard the complete story because she is nearly deaf (she has double hearing aids that work well in a quiet environment but not so well in a busy restaurant), but she loved the story, and said with a smile, "That had a good message." If you say so Mom. It had more than a few messages, actually, but I am not so sure they are all good (I'll leave it to you to decide which messages are good or not):1. The smaller the goverment the better.2. Politicians are morons.3. Watson believes the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way.4. Recycling is the answer.5. Capitalism can support a sustainable world. 6. The economy's important no matter how bad other things get. 7. Consumption isn't a problem as long as the monster at the bottom of the hill can gobble up our waste.I want to point out that my mother-in-law's support should be undesirable for any author. Whew! I feel better now. Beyond Tom Watson's mess of messages, the story fails on one serious level -- rhyme. The rhythm flows for the first half of the book then *BAM!* he tries to rhyme "hill" and "smell" and the whole thing falls apart. In a short kids book that sort of mistake is unacceptable. A short message to Mr. Watson:Find a rhyme that works, Tom, or rewrite until you find something that fits your rhyme scheme, but don't, seriously DO NOT, blow the rhythm. Rhythm is what makes parents read books like this to their kids, and when you fuck up that rhythm and force me, the reader, to rewrite that section to make the rhyme work, your work fails -- and it means that I won't be reading this book again. And you want rereads, don't you?Still, I did like Garbage Monster Burp's South Park art, so I will probably give Watson's other free eBook a chance.Merged review:We were sitting on the patio of a busy restaurant and waiting for the cheque. My little Scoutie was getting seriosuly antsy, so I pulled her out of the high chair, plopped her in my lap and started reading Garbage Monster Burp. I'd read it to her before and hadn't liked it much, but I'd forgotten to delete it from my iPod, so there it was, ready to keep her busy for a good fifteen minutes.Did it keep her busy? Sort of. It was mostly the iPod that kept her busy and the thrill of flipping the e-pages back and forth. A little bit of it was the voices I put on while reading. I'd be suprised if it was anything else. Garbage Monster Burp tells the story of a big old monster living beneath a pretty town. The townsfolk throw their garbage down the hill for the monster to devour, but he gets fat and develops noxious burps as the town's consumption goes through the roof. The ineffectual mayor does nothing to fix the problem, relying on doublespeak and useless "committee" formation, but the kids of the town figure out that the answer to the question is to reduce their garbage output through recycling. And they get rich doing it. Yay for the kids!My mother-in-law may not have heard the complete story because she is nearly deaf (she has double hearing aids that work well in a quiet environment but not so well in a busy restaurant), but she loved the story, and said with a smile, "That had a good message." If you say so Mom. It had more than a few messages, actually, but I am not so sure they are all good (I'll leave it to you to decide which messages are good or not):1. The smaller the goverment the better.2. Politicians are morons.3. Watson believes the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way.4. Recycling is the answer.5. Capitalism can support a sustainable world. 6. The economy's important no matter how bad other things get. 7. Consumption isn't a problem as long as the monster at the bottom of the hill can gobble up our waste.I want to point out that my mother-in-law's support should be undesirable for any author. Whew! I feel better now. Beyond Tom Watson's mess of messages, the story fails on one serious level -- rhyme. The rhythm flows for the first half of the book then *BAM!* he tries to rhyme "hill" and "smell" and the whole thing falls apart. In a short kids book that sort of mistake is unacceptable. A short message to Mr. Watson:Find a rhyme that works, Tom, or rewrite until you find something that fits your rhyme scheme, but don't, seriously DO NOT, blow the rhythm. Rhythm is what makes parents read books like this to their kids, and when you fuck up that rhythm and force me, the reader, to rewrite that section to make the rhyme work, your work fails -- and it means that I won't be reading this book again. And you want rereads, don't you?Still, I did like Garbage Monster Burp's South Park art, so I will probably give Watson's other free eBook a chance. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 4 | votes 12 | # times read 2 | date started Sep 03, 2011 not set | date read Sep 04, 2011 not set | date added Sep 28, 2024 | owned | format Kindle Edition | actions view (with text) | | | |
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| title Babel-17 | author Delany, Samuel R. | isbn 0839823282 | isbn13 9780839823285 | asin 0839823282 | num pages 192pp | avg rating 3.72 | num ratings 19,463 | date pub May 1966 | date pub edition Jun 01, 1978 | Brad's rating | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review None | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 0 | # times read 1 | date started Sep 02, 2024 | date read not set | date added Sep 02, 2024 | owned | format Hardcover | actions view | | | |
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| title The Colorado Kid | author King, Stephen * | isbn 1789091551 | isbn13 9781789091557 | asin 1789091551 | num pages 205pp | avg rating 3.38 | num ratings 57,574 | date pub Oct 04, 2005 | date pub edition May 07, 2019 | Brad's rating it was amazing | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review There is nothing I like more than hearing complicated stories in the company of cool people, and Stephen King's The Colorado Kid lets us imagine we've There is nothing I like more than hearing complicated stories in the company of cool people, and Stephen King's The Colorado Kid lets us imagine we've spent just such an afternoon in a quaint, little Maritime town in Maine (which felt a lot like my old home of Summerside, Prince Edward Island, and probably made it even more up my alley than it should be).There is no direct action in The Colorado Kid. All the action happened years before our story begins. A man -- the Colorado Kid -- was found on a beach during the off season, and no one knows how or why he ended up there. But in the Maine of today-ish (is the town called Haven? I suspect so, although I can't remember for sure), two oldsters in charge of the local newspaper are passing on this story, their favourite unsolved mystery, to their young intern who they are trying to woo into making their local paper her permanent post.The "action" is, therefore, two old men telling a story to a young woman, and the story is necessarily full of gaps. We can't really get a handle on the beginning or the end, and there are big holes in the middle that King doesn't care to fill in for us (an element of The Colorado Kid that I adored but I'm sure will drive others crazy). But for all the holes, for its unfinished and unfinishable status, The Colorado Kid is a compelling tale to listen to, and King does invite us to fill the holes however we like, as long as we know that how we fill those holes says as much about us as it does the story itself. It's a story that tells us everything it can and shows us nothing at all. I love that. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 2 | votes 9 | # times read 2 | date started Jun 29, 2024 not set | date read Jul 27, 2024 not set | date added Aug 02, 2024 | owned | format Paperback | actions view (with text) | | | |
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| title The Land Breakers | author Ehle, John | isbn 0977228371 | isbn13 9780977228379 | asin 0977228371 | num pages 356pp | avg rating 4.29 | num ratings 1,819 | date pub 1964 | date pub edition Jul 01, 2006 | Brad's rating | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review None | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 0 | # times read 0 | date started not set | date read not set | date added Aug 02, 2024 | owned | format Paperback | actions view | | | |
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| title I'd Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I Ever Had: My Year as a Rookie Teacher at Northeast High | author Danza, Tony | isbn 0307887863 | isbn13 9780307887863 | asin 0307887863 | num pages 272pp | avg rating 3.86 | num ratings 4,363 | date pub Jan 01, 2012 | date pub edition Sep 11, 2012 | Brad's rating | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review None | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 0 | # times read 1 | date started Jul 31, 2024 | date read not set | date added Jul 31, 2024 | owned | format Hardcover | actions view | | | |
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| title Surrender, New York | author Carr, Caleb | isbn | isbn13 | asin B01E97J9EW | num pages 24pp | avg rating 3.28 | num ratings 5,448 | date pub 2016 | date pub edition Aug 23, 2016 | Brad's rating liked it | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review There were some things to like in Caleb Carr's Surrender, New York but not nearly as much to like as the two previous books in his NY State-verse: The There were some things to like in Caleb Carr's Surrender, New York but not nearly as much to like as the two previous books in his NY State-verse: The Alienist & The Angel of Darkness.My favourite part of Surrender, New York is that it's set in an Extended Universe of Carr's design. Having the crimes in Surrender, New York occur more than a century after Laszlo Kreizler's fin-de siècle crime fighting, and having the only real link between the stories be Dr. Trajan Jones' devotion to Kreizler's "Theory of Context" (making Jones the academic and practical expert on Dr. Kreizler in the 21st Century) was inspired, and it would be a lot of fun seeing this expanded upon further. Unfortunately, though, Dr. Jones and the team of investigators he puts together (a team fairly reminiscent of Kriezler's own team), aren't nearly as convincing as their predecessors were nor as likable, which suggests to me that an expansion on the tales of Dr. Trajan Jones is pretty unlikely, especially when there are two unfinished and previously announced Kreizler novels wasting away on Mr. Carr's computer.One of the major problems in Surrender, New York is the way Carr presents his contemporary characters. He seems much more comfortable hearkening back to the period of his own academic pursuits -- turn of the 20th Century New York -- when crafting personae than he is dealing with the people of today, although some of that might be up to myself and my own biases. Whether the problem is him or me -- or a bit of us both -- the fact is that I had a hard time caring about the quirky band in Surrender, New York.And it may actually be the quirks themselves that caused me to distance myself emotionally from his characters. Peculiarities in characters can help define them, give them depth, or at the very least give them colour, but when someone like Trajan Jones has as many quirks as he does -- from a prosthetic leg to a Junkers Bomber turned personal crime lab to a pet cheetah and on and on -- it can be distracting, at least, and even downright silly. Still, the crime being investigated in Surrender, New York is fascinating, the action is mildly satisfying, and there was more than enough in the characters, despite their flaws, to keep me interested throughout. I think this novel suffers a bit due to my love for the previous Kreizler novels, and I would certainly read another Dr. Jones story; I'd just rather read another Dr. Kreizler case (or even a fictionalized version of the papers Kreizler left behind that Jones uses as the basis of his work).Regardless, I will keep my fingers crossed that something from Carr's NY State-verse will hit the shelves sooner rather than later. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 2 | # times read 1 | date started Jul 30, 2024 | date read Aug 17, 2024 | date added Jul 30, 2024 | owned | format Audible Audio | actions view (with text) | | | |
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| title Sizzle(Sizzle TV #1) | author Green, Whitley * | isbn | isbn13 | asin B087J1T2TQ | num pages 8pp | avg rating 3.90 | num ratings 1,406 | date pub Dec 31, 2018 | date pub edition Apr 24, 2020 | Brad's rating really liked it | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review Let me begin with the one thing I didn't like about Sizzle: the absolute shit narration from Brian Pallino.Pallino sounds angry -- all the time -- and Let me begin with the one thing I didn't like about Sizzle: the absolute shit narration from Brian Pallino.Pallino sounds angry -- all the time -- and on the rare occasions when he's supposed to sound angry, he sounds angry still, just a little louder. It's like watching Andrew Shue back in the Melrose Place days where the "Many Faces of Billy" -- no matter the emotion -- were the one face of Billy: glazed over, wishing he was still playing football, Andrew Shue. To make matters worse, though (and this is in no way the fault of Whitley Green, Pallino's character, Elliot, is described by Joelle (read by the quite lovely Meg Sylvan) to have a voice that exudes sexuality; his voice is so dreamy and sexy, we're told, that he should read audiobooks (note to audiobook directors: just because someone DOES read audiobooks DOESN'T mean they should, nor that they are good at it). Now had Joelle been describing Alex (read invitingly by CJ Mission), the gushing praise would have been closer to the mark, and it wouldn't have been so jarringly inappropriate (even though it wouldn't have been entirely accurate either). But nope, Joelle was describing Elliot, and the crapness of Elliot's narrator made it absolutely impossible for me to immerse myself in the story (or the smut) when Pallino was narrating. I don't even think viagra would have overcome Pallino's power to turn me off. So yeah ... had Pallino not read a third of this book, I'd be giving it the full compliment of stars. I enjoyed both other narrators, the smut was nice and smutty, the balance of the erotic scenes was solid (even if I would have preferred more), the easy embrace of bisexuality (and polyamory) amongst those close to our protagonists was refreshing and kept the focus on the sex and sexuality, and the surrounding plot was actually pretty interesting ... interesting enough that I was disappointed to discover that the second book in the Sizzle TV series was not about Joelle and Alex and Elliot. I really wanted to see where their MMF relationship went, and I wanted to see Joelle to get a little more oral loving for herself. C'est la vie. I'll read Smoke all the same. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 3 | # times read 1 | date started Jul 03, 2024 | date read Jul 28, 2024 | date added Jul 30, 2024 | owned | format Audible Audio | actions view (with text) | | | |
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| title X Minus One: Complete | author Welch, William | isbn | isbn13 | asin B0DM4HFSDR | num pages unknown | avg rating 3.67 | num ratings 3 | date pub unknown | date pub edition Jan 08, 1958 | Brad's rating really liked it | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review There is a whole lot of fun and a whole lot of excellence packed into this "Complete" audio collection of X Minus One. I use the quotes a touch ironic There is a whole lot of fun and a whole lot of excellence packed into this "Complete" audio collection of X Minus One. I use the quotes a touch ironically here because this collection isn't quite complete, which makes me a little sad, but considering that some of the best episodes got replayed in this collection just as they did in the Fifties, I'm not going to hold the missing episodes against the collection. As with any old time radio collection, there is some inconsistent quality when it comes to performances, and X Minus One struggles with an added level of inconsistency when it comes to the quality of the adaptations from Sci-Fi short stories to Sci-Fi radio plays, yet this collection doesn't suffer from these inconsistencies as much as something like CBS Radio Mystery Theatre does. And the audio quality of this collection (especially considering the episodes were all recorded in the '50s) is superior to most of its brethren. I don't feel any great need to single out stinker episodes, but I do want to mention my two favourites: "The Tunnel Under the World" by Fredrik Pohl and "Saucer of Loneliness by Theodore Sturgeon. The former is a famous enough work to make Tom Shippey's fantastic collection, The Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories, and the latter is so perfectly touching that I want to adapt it for the stage my own self. Even if you don't listen to this whole collection, I urge you to hunt these two tales down on the web. If you love old time radio, I think you'll be happy to listen to them both. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 2 | # times read 2 | date started Nov 30, 2023 not set | date read Jul 22, 2024 not set | date added Jul 30, 2024 | owned | format Audible Audio | actions view (with text) | | | |
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| title The Unidentified: Mythical Monsters, Alien Encounters, and Our Obsession with the Unexplained | author Dickey, Colin | isbn 0525557571 | isbn13 9780525557579 | asin B081M55L3D | num pages 320pp | avg rating 3.66 | num ratings 1,796 | date pub Jul 21, 2020 | date pub edition Jul 21, 2020 | Brad's rating liked it | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review Not quite as compelling to me as Ghostland -- which is mostly due to my own bias (I love the supernatural much more than the cryptozoology] -- yet sti Not quite as compelling to me as Ghostland -- which is mostly due to my own bias (I love the supernatural much more than the cryptozoology] -- yet still a wonderfully skeptical look at the world of the weird and the wonderful.Colin Dickey's great skill is looking at the fringes of society, and all of those strange moments that have been written about, recorded and dissected, and applying those fringe insights into the mainstream, theorizing about how those "fringe ideas" came into existence, and how those "fringe ideas" bump into history, both being formed by history and shaping history. His target is often the underlying racism that underpins the fringe beliefs of the United States, and he does a great job of making that argument. He provides evidence, gives us places to go and texts to read, and makes all the appropriate links to the European roots that made it all possible. I don't know where Colin Dickey is going next, but I'm excited for wherever he goes. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 1 | # times read 1 | date started Jul 30, 2024 | date read Dec 31, 2024 | date added Jul 12, 2024 | owned | format Kindle Edition | actions view (with text) | | | |
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| title The Housemaid | author McFadden, Freida * | isbn | isbn13 | asin B09XRF2SWN | num pages unknown | avg rating 4.30 | num ratings 2,453,764 | date pub Apr 26, 2022 | date pub edition Apr 26, 2022 | Brad's rating it was ok | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review Is this a fun book? Yes.Is this a good book? Maybe-ish.Does this book make sense? Not really.Does the ending hold up? Nope. Not in a million years.Are Is this a fun book? Yes.Is this a good book? Maybe-ish.Does this book make sense? Not really.Does the ending hold up? Nope. Not in a million years.Are there likable characters in there? Well ...Talking about characters: Enzo -- ridiculous; Millie -- sociopath; Nina -- oddly cool but unethical; Cecelia -- whatever; Detective Connors -- don't blink. You'll miss him; Andrew -- I guess he's evil, but not as evil as Millie (who we are supposed to side with).Would you read this again? No.Will you go on in the series? Of course.Why? Who doesn't love crap? ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 8 | # times read 1 | date started Apr 22, 2024 | date read May 05, 2024 | date added Jun 22, 2024 | owned | format Audible Audio | actions view (with text) | | | |
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| title Here There Be Gerblins | author McElroy, Clint | isbn 1250197848 | isbn13 9781250197849 | asin 1250197848 | num pages 238pp | avg rating 4.33 | num ratings 26,503 | date pub Jul 17, 2018 | date pub edition 2018 | Brad's rating | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review None | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 0 | # times read 1 | date started Jun 12, 2024 | date read not set | date added Jun 12, 2024 | owned | format Paperback | actions view | | | |
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