Books of October 2010

The Hobbit
JRR Tolkien
ISBN 0 04 823126 6
253 pages
Oct 6

Been a few years since I read this.  Saw online that maybe the film production might finally be getting underway, so inspired to re-read.  Forgotten how short it actually is.  As enjoyable as ever (but I still find myself skimming the poetry/songs... not my thing).

Thunderhead
Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
ISBN 0-446-60837-8
531 pages

Ten pages in I was thinking "what a hokey piece of crap".  I persevered nonetheless.  I can't recall what previous book I read by these two, but name recognition was what made me pick it up.  At a Bibles for Missions thrift store, which was a minor ethical dilemma for me.  Anyway, Anasazi culture has interested me since my early teens when I visited family in Colorado and went to Mesa Verde National Park.  Turned out the book was not as crappy as the first chapters led me to believe.  Not good by any means, but somewhat better than crap towards the end.

The Stars My Destination
Alfred Bester
ISBN 0-679-76780-0
258 pages

Amazing.  Number 31 on the top 100 Sci-Fi books list.  A 1956 book that isn't full of anachronisms is rare enough, but the predictions of corporate states and warfare were very interesting.

Bodyguard
William C. Dietz
ISBN 0-441-00105-X
231 pages

Interesting but not great.  A bit of a stretch at times.

SPQR
John Maddox Roberts
ISBN 0-380-75993-4
230 pages
Not a book I would typically read, and not sure why I picked this up (along with a sequel).  Historical murder mystery?  Set in Rome, confusing at times because of character names, place names, and job titles being unfamiliar.  Still, I enjoyed it enough that I've moved on to the next one.