Book Ratings

Since I'm rating audio books now I suppose I'll keep a tally:

1)Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (Douglas Adams): B
Summation: Funny - What you'd expect from Mr. Adams

2)The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown): B+
Summation: Entertaining - Unfortunate skew of many facts but fun nonetheless. Big minus is narrator's impression of Sophie N. I can't help thinking of a transvestite everytime he attempts to harness his DEEP FEMALE VOICE. Yuk....especially the inevitable 'love' scenes.

3)A Million Little Pieces (James Frey): B
Summation: Scary but "Happy Ending" look at rehab and addiction...or should that be in reverse?...hehe. So what happened to Lillie wasn't what you'd consider happy? I think James was pathetic for pursuing and trying to save her. Sad. Sorry if I spoiled it.

4)The Gunslinger - The Dark Tower (Stephen King): B+
This was extremely entertaining in the beginning and through about 1/2 way into the book. The Gunslinger, the last of his 'breed' is in hot pursuit in the desert lands of a world that has "moved on". He knows the "Man in Black" is an evil and powerful sorcerer but he also knows this man has the key to the location of "The Dark Tower".

The first in a series of 7 books, The Gunslinger is full of what you'd expect from Stephen...lush action, details and explicit scene. It had been too long since my last encounter with his brilliant and in-depth style of writing.

The middle of the book or perhaps 60-70 percent of the way through, the story and action kind of drag and the end is an anti-climax of sorts, which drags this potentially GREAT story down to a good story. The narrator is excellent - sounds like he was pulled from a dusty saloon.

5)The Drawing of the Three - The Dark Tower (Stephen King): B-
This is the second book in The Dark Tower collection. This books takes up right where the Gunslinger left off. Many of the beginning action sequences are quite interesting, however the premise of ongoing story takes an unmistakeably odd turn which is a little hard to swallow. Much of this story LAGS much as the scene keep repeating over and over and over. Little pieces of the story come out shining however and let's just say I'll never see a lobster in the same light ever again. It is odd to hear this second part given by a completely different narrator. He is great but not as good as #1.

6)The Wastelands - The Dark Tower (Stephen King): B-
This is the third book in The Dark Tower collection. This book starts off slower than you could think possible and has more rambling passages than you could ever care to read/listen to (hehe). Once the "crew" gets "back on the trail", it actually begins to get rather interesting. Stephen King actually narrates this one...which is very bad. He is definitely not the best choice for this. I can't help thinking this is being read by a geeky kid in high school. His lack of 'voices' really bring this one down. Yes, the second half of the book is good in that it is entertaining but when you start out as bad as it was, it is hard to call this a good story. Ends in a "cliff-hanger".

7)Wizard and Glass - The Dark Tower (Stephen King): B+
This is the fourth book in The Dark Tower collection. My man is back! The narrator from the first book is back with his excellent story-telling ability. His raspy and critical voice sounds like it is coming directly from the Gunslinger himself. Unfortunately, part of the story is cut off for me - right at the climax but I could gather what happened. Argh. Also the recording I'm listening too is sub-par so I'm going to try and find another version.

8/7/06 - Oops, I'm just an idiot and needed to adjust some software settings on my PDA. Darn it anyway! Well this book is almost over - in the climax right now and is very good...I really love it.

8/14/06 - Finally finished it. Overall the beginning and end dragged but the gist of the story (a reflection/story of an earlier time in the life of Roland of Gilliad) was full of great scenes, plot, and language. I had to stop myself during the day from vocalizing some of the phrases of the people in the book - you'll see. In the afterward, it is explained that Stephen King took over 2 decades to write this fourth book in 1996. I'm glad I didn't have to wait that long. That would have sucked.

8)Wolves of the Calla- The Dark Tower (Stephen King): B-
Starting this afternoon.
10/5/06 - Finished this one about three or four weeks ago. It started off like it could be a terrific tale of mounting anxiety in planning for a major battle. Unfortunately, it only had good bits and pieces. Okay on the whole. In this tale, basically the Gunslingers help out a group of people that have been raided by the Wolves every couple of decades. In return, they discover a magical ball, hidden doorways and a new member of their clan.

9)Song of Susannah - The Dark Tower (Stephen King): C-
10/5/06 - Finished this about 1 week ago. Long, drawn-out story that jumps back and forth between different times and places. The main focus is on Susannah who is pregnant, partially kidnapped, and calling for help. She is one of the most boring characters in the story and it really drags this book down the toilet.

10)The Dark Tower - The Dark Tower (Stephen King): B
10/5/06 - I am currently listening to this one - the 7th book in the 7 book series. Starts out great. There is a lot of action and I can see the beginning of a shift of focus from Susannah back onto Roland "Thank the Gods". More later.
11/16/06 - I finished this puppy a couple weeks ago and took a break after. Phew it was a long series! It was cool...had a lot of neat ideas. I think the main problem with this series is that King continued on after the first book. Leaving it at the first book would have been great! Really though, I think when King finally decided to get back into this series, he took the high school way out and said I'll just put myself into the story and that will be easy. It's a cop-out like "It was all a dream". Very silly how it progressed after the second book. Though - I liked it overall - had a lot of neat ideas, creatures, and characters. I suppose I should also give an overall rating for the 7 book series: B.

11)Salem's Lot (Stephen King): B
11/16/06 - no, I'm not obsessed with King. There were just a few books I never got to read so I have to listen to them. This story is quite interesting. I've been listening for about a week now and I'm about 25% done. After reading a 7 book series I cannot believe I'm already 25% done with a book haha. Anyway, this is nice compact, easy listening story that has a lot of potential. I hope he doesn't ruin it. What else is interesting is that in the Dark Tower series, King inserts a lot of characters from his other books - including some from Salem's Lot and it is neat to see them "while they were still young".

Finished December 1, 2006. Great book - lots of great imagery and was actually scary. Watched the movie - horrible.

12)The Stand (Stephen King): B+
Finished 15, 2007. This was a great book - excellent idea and very thought provoking. I often wonder what would happen to the remaining people is such a disaster. King took a route that I hadn't predicted, but it turned out okay. I actually liked the first half of the book better.
Watched the 2 disc movie that was on TV. It was okay, but was changed a lot.

13)Harry Potter - The Order of the Phoenix (Rowling, J. K.): A
Finished March 22, 2007. This was a great one - probably the best Harry Potter story so far. It basically has the Ministry of Magic being blind-sided by Lord Voldemorte while it puts Hogwarts
and Dumbledore in check. I'd thought Professor Snape was bad - wait until you meet Professor
and High Inquisitor Umbridge. What a bitch.

14)Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Rowling, J.K.): B
Finished April 18, 2007. This was okay. It basically spent most of the book explaining things about the backstory though many scenes I'm sure will be pretty cool in the next movie. The ending is a little unnerving (without giving it away) and definitely leaves you wanting a resolution. There is no way you could stop at this point in the series. Luckily there is only 1 more book - coming out in July I think. I may actually try reading this one - though I may have to fight my wife for it.

15)The Kite Runner (Hosseini, Khaled): A
Finished sometime in Early May, 2007. This was a great story. Although fiction, it gives great incite into a world most of us are unfamiliar with. The book is tied together by a broken friendship and a stubbornness that is exhausting. You'll be amazed at the many differences in culture...and also the similarities.

16)Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Rowling, J.K.): A-
Finished in December, 2007. Great finish to the series with everything explained. Yes, I did actually READ this one for a change. My wife did have one burning unanswerable question though...at the end when Neville got the horcrux to kill you know what (trying not to give anything away), where the hell did it come from? The goblin had it. This was a HUGE oversight...though I didn't think about it past the point where I said to myself "where did that come from?"...just figured it would come out later. Anyway, great finish.

17)DNA and Genealogy (Fitzpatrick, Colleen and other): B
Finished in December, 2007 (quickie!) Pretty boring if you're not into it...but I am so it was great. More information than anything but covers a lot of great stuff. Detailed explanation for all those nay-sayers. This is a science and it reads like a textbook (given there are some breaks). Interesting information regarding cladograms - you got me started. If you are a DNA Group Administrator, definitely check it out. You can order it from http://www.forensicgenealogy.info/ or if you are a group Admin on Family Tree DNA, contact the staff and they'll send you a free copy like they did me. Yes, I READ this one too!

18)A Thousand Splendid Suns (Hosseini, Khaled): Current Book

A Million Little Pieces by James Frey

Listened to this book and finished early last week. It was definitely
hyped up and sad to learn beforehand about the untruths while sporting to be truth. It would have been great to think it was true first even if it was a lie, hehe. Okay book. I'd give it a B.

Virgins for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi

On FoxNews.com they interview Abu Musab's brother. He says he's a martyr and will join all of the other martyrs in heaven. I was trying to do the math ealier on how many virgins would be needed for all the Palestinian, nomadic terrorists, and others. That would be quite a lot. Couple questions:

1)How would they find that many?

2)Why would women who lived such a life be subjected to a "heaven" of rape by blood-thirsty maniacs?

3)How does Allah screen these women? Will he make sure none of the 100 virgins awaiting Abu Musab are not anyone he killed?

4)What the heckdo you have to do as a jihadist to go to Hell? You probably have to live a peaceful life, turn the other cheek, and love your neighbor.

Rot In Hell Asshole.