Eddie's Fancy

Yet another nautical history book. I’ve known the general background of the Bounty and seen several Hollywood versions, but have never read an actual book about it.

Not surprising most of what I knew was wrong; Captain Bligh was really Lieutenant Bligh, Mr. Christian was his protege and had they sailed together before, while Bligh not have been the most pleasant of men, he wasn’t that bad compare to his contemporaries and was a very skilled navigator. Most important we don’t really know what the core reason for the mutiny was.

It was a good ready, but maybe not as readable as the histories by Nathaniel Philbrick I’ve read.

I really would like to get a book on Captain Cook now.

I’ve been a fan of hard-boiled detective novels for years. Unfortunately I started with Chandler and Dashiell Hammett so it’s been downhill since then. I’ve read about John D. MacDonald for years, but just now picked up the first Travis McGee novel.

McGee is a finder of lost things, he enjoys life on his houseboat in Fort Lauderdale until he runs low on cash, then takes on a client to find whatever they need found. In “The Deep Blue Good-by” (reminiscent of “The Long Goodbye” by Raymond Chandler) he is hired by a showgirl who is missing money acquired by her father from India during WW-II.

I liked McGee and the book clipped along at a good pace. MacDonald doesn’t quite turn a phrase like Chandler or Hammett, but he makes up for it with a moving plot.

I’ve put the rest of his books into my checklist, I’ll definitely be on the look-out for them as I browse used bookstores.

Finally some photos from Indrani’s Birthday trip. Keep in mind, I had the flu the entire time, so don’t expect Ansel Adams.

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Another Spenser book. What can I say, I’m a sucker for a hard-boiled detective novel. I’ve read so many of the Spenser books that I can skim a good chunk of the dialog between the main characters and not miss much.

One day I should really read Parker’s other series.

Found this one at neat, hidden away bookstore near the house. I think I’m going to become a regular there.

Found this in hardback on the bargain table, always a nice thing. I like Gibson, I really need to go back and see if his older books are as good as I remember.

His more recent books have been more akin to contemporary thillers than sci-fi, but I enjoy his ideas and characters.

Another Nightside book by Simon R. Green. Fun, but fluffy.

I started the Nightside series after reading reading one of the short stories in a collection that I borrowed mainly for a Jim Butcher short story. So far I’m enjoying them enough to keep scouring used book stores for them, but not enough to buy new.

More urban fantasy.

The second Remy Chander book, I enjoyed it a bit more than “A Kiss Before the Apocalypse” but it didn’t really end, it seems to be the first part of longer story arc. If you’re going to do this follow Jim Butcher, have a book specific story arc that is completed by the end of the book and also contribute to the overall plot.

I picked this up after reading a short story with this character in “Mean Streets”. An interesting idea, an angel trying to be human and a PI. I find I like the dog better than the main character. Still, I’ll keep reading to see where it goes.

Book 2 in the Nightside series, these are good enough reads that I’ll keep going, but probably only if I can find them at the used bookstores.

I borrowed this mainly for the Harry Dresden short story, but I was glad to find the other three were good to. Not fantastic, not as good as The Dresden Files, but still worth reading.

A great read by Neil Gaiman, The Jungle Book set in a graveyard. We gave this as a gift to a family friend and I had to get a copy for myself.

And now, the last book in the Sharing Knife series. I’ve not been sorry I’ve been following this series, but I wasn’t horribly excited about it either. Still an ok Bujold book is better than 95% of the stuff out there.

I would have liked more backstory and explanation of where the Malice’s come from, but I’m guessing her focus was more on the characters than the history.

The second Nursery Crime book by Jasper Fforde, it took a little while for me to get into the groove of reading it. I think I just read too many Fforde books in a row. But once I did, I couldn’t put it down and in the end I enjoyed more than the first one. I’m sorry he’s only planning on writing three of them.

And this is the last published Fforde book, I’m caught and have to wait for him to write more. Arrgh!

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