Curt Parton has said it best so far. Read below.

And for my 2 cents: I'm a lazy reader and yet blaming CHRISTIANS for (so he seems to imply??) writing GENESIS (pp. 238) -- huh?

Also did anyone get the sense this guy was using a computer to help him write it? 'Clambering excitedly' , 'unnerving pause', 'feeling a shiver of anticipation'...

enough of that PRAC! give me something to worthy of readers.

This was my first Sandford book. I 've heard a lot about the 'Prey' books. It's a police book with FBI and local cops in a fast-paced chase to stop a hired killer who comes back to kill her former employers. Mostly the hero, Lucas Davenport, gets clues with the help of the hometown boys who find him easy to like, although he gets kidded for driving a porsche. I especially liked the characters of the hometown cops --being retired but wanting back in the 'game' so to speak. The woman hired gun keeps you guessing to the very end of the novel. If you like hardboiled action with a decent plot, Sandford is your guy. P.s. the cell phone bit would make a great movie scene...

For some reason I can say I've read everything by McEwan and this book, although it won a Booker Prize, is not his best. At least to me. The ending is down right stupid and loses the entire tone of the novel. And if McEwan meant it that way, than he kind of insults his readers. The Child in Time, Black Dogs, The Comfort of Strangers, Atonement, all of them are better than this one. Still, he writes well, and I'll read everything he writes...perhaps in Amsterdam I missed something? p.s. don't read this book if you're looking to get a feel of Amsterdam...

It's kind of a macho man's view of LA book, a little bang bang shoot 'um up, but I like how the plot unravelled. And every once in awhile I like these army-guy-becomes-PI books. Sure Elvis is now a detective, but you get the sense he's only 2 weeks out of the jungle. Plus he's smart and finds the clues. Good fun, if you can stand a little gore. Just a little at the end anyway.

Political farce gets a new face. Some people have a hard time stomaching after 9/11, but just goes to show the books power. Very sublime. Laugh out loud and yet completely tragic. I love this book. It's like neo-magical realism. Can't wait to read the rest of the authors works. Bravo!

Until Bay of Souls, I've only read Dog Soldiers by Stone, but keep meaning to read other things. The bulk of his books are about characters involved in political situations from the the news today. With the exception of the book about the guy who goes sailing I think... Stone is a decent writer who still has his chops, but this book seems like it was lacking inspiration. Also, some of the plot seems unreal, ie he basically leaves his wife to travel to another country because another professor has the hots for him. Ok but while he's in that country he doesn't once phone in to speak with his wife or seem to worried about it. Poor editing. I finished the book, and most of the scenes came alive and the characters were interesting, but it lacked that special something. Autopilot. A 4 is generous.

One of the best books I've read in years. Ending is fantastic. This book came out around the same time The Hours came out and I can't remember a thing about The Hours, but this book is burned into my brain.

A young man gets married in an arranged marriage and goes off to be a doctor in the Army. After a few years he realizes he doesn't love his wife and his parents that made the marriage are dead. He decides to seek a divorce from his wife. He has already fathered a child. He doesn't have any desire to remarry. His wife has lived in a different city for years and his child barely knows him, so it seems natural for him to get divorced.

In China couples must wait (so the story says) to get a divorce for a court that only convenes once every year. And the spouses must agree. His wife always agrees until the last moment and then she says no. Many years go by. He was happy living in a different city and being basically single albeit married, but then he meets a women...a MUST READ!

Has Connelly written a bad book? Probably not. Lost Light gives us Bosch searching out clues to a long dormant case after he retires from the police force. A little bit of romance, a few great characters, and some interesting plot developments lead us to a denouement that is satisfying and perfectly timed. That may be the last time we see Bosch? Probably not...

Soul Circus is very DC. At least a certain part of DC. I found myself almost turning to a city map to follow along with the action. The action is inner city drama of bad people doing bad things and good people trying to get out, but always somehow getting pulled back in. Inner city tragedy complete with senseless violent deaths in a haze of drugs and beer. Lots of kids running around with no parental supervision...

What works is the pace and tone of the book. Pelacanos also has an incredible ear for the street language: ah...judging from the back cover, he wasn't exactly raised in them parts.

In the end, I found this book to be a little heavy-handed on the moralizing, and I couldn't help thinking it seems like a weaker cousin to a story that may have been going on books before. The pace of the story and picture the author paints of certain streets of DC make it a gripping, although grim read. Not for everyone, but good conversation material.

This was my first Gibson book and although it's well written and has an interesting plot I felt like the author was on auto pilot. I normally don't read science fiction, (here I use science fiction in the sense of technology fiction) and can barely find my way around a computer, so I was expecting to be taught something about the w.w.w. that I hadn't realized. This, of course, was with my previous understanding of Gibson's work. The story uses numerous mystery plots to carry it 325 pages. Good people are bad and visa versa. Like I said, it's very well written and I didn't put it down until I finished it, but somehow I feel cheated. Oh, there is a bit about 9/11 in it that was veritas. I was down there/minutes late for work--he writes this bit to the point that I got that yucky feeling I get when I remember that sad day...