Edward Lorn's Blog, page 42
December 28, 2015
WINNER: BEST NOVELLA 2015!
Because I cannot in good conscience choose a story from an anthology I was a part of, I must fallback on my second choice for Best Novella 2015.
And the award goes to…
Revolver, by Michael Patrick Hicks.
In case you’re wondering, my favorite novella of the year (and my favorite work from Gregor Xane period) is Loving the Goat, from the collection Dead Roses. Had I not been a part of that collection, his would be the obvious winner. This should not detract from Hicks’s stellar outing. I read over twenty novellas this year, and Hicks got second place over the likes of Stephen King and Kealan Patrick Burke.
Let it also be known that I know Michael Patrick Hicks. We follow each other on social media sites and chat every once and awhile. I didn’t choose his book because of this. I chose his book because of how accurately it captured the current state and future of America.
Original post:
edwardlorn.booklikes.com/post/1313939/winner-best-novella-2015
December 27, 2015
The Lion’s Game Review
Review: 
No one is more shocked at my rating of The Lion’s Gamethan I am. I’ve had plenty of time to think about John Corey’s second outing, and my final judgment is: I enjoyed the fuck outta this book.
While the issues I had with the previous book in this series,Plum Island, popped up this go around as well, they were well balanced against the second narrative. While Plum Islandwas a strict first person POV inside John Corey’s cock-oriented caveman mind, The Lion’s Game offers many different third-person POVs in addition to Corey’s strict first person. DeMille deftly juggles all these threads to create one tight blanket. Impressive. My favorite addition was the view into the mind of the villain, Asad Khalil, a thoroughly dynamic baddie whose motivations are understandable. Not condonable, but understandable.
The biggest selling point of this novel is that it never lets up. It takes place in several different states, and two different countries. It has branching timelines. It has gun battles and bombing runs and one of the coolest hijacked-plane sequences I’ve read about.
The Lion’s Game brought back memories of watching Die Hard for the first time, only this version of Die Hard is 30 hours long. For me, that aspect is a plus. If you’re a fan of over-the-top machismo-slathered action flicks, I highly recommend this guy’s work. You can start here, too, as the previous book is mentioned only twice and the relationships brought up in the first book have no bearing on this case. The Lion’s Game is far superior when compared to the first book in the series.
My only complaint is a rather big one. Big enough that I removed an entire star. Yes, that’s right, I wanted to rate this one five bigguns, but the ending didn’t sit right with me. It was sufficient as an ending, but I wanted more. I felt the final pages did not live up to the promise of the previous 900.
That being said, I’m not quitting this series anytime soon. So much fun.
In summation: If you dig Bruce Willis action movies, John Corey is his literary doppleganger. Fast talking, quick witted, led around completely by the wrong head, John Corey’s adventures are big fun for those guys who like big books and cannot lie.
Final Judgment: Where’s the next one?
Original post:
edwardlorn.booklikes.com/post/1313411/the-lion-s-game-review
WINNER: BEST CLASSIC READ IN 2015!
I put off reading Flannery O’Connor for far too long. Enough said.
Original post:
edwardlorn.booklikes.com/post/1313139/winner-best-classic-read-in-2015
December 26, 2015
How Weird Am I?
I’m having a problem finding my next read for the following reasons:
#1. Everything I want to read is over 700 pages long and my OCD won’t allow me to go into 2016 with an unfinished book. Meaning, I need to have all my currently reading books done by December 31, 2015 @ 11:59. I don’t think I can fit in a 700+ page novel by then.
#2. I usually have one ebook, one audiobook, and one physical book all going at one time. Right now, the only books I want to read under 700 pages are books I own on audio only. The problem with this is, I’m listening to the final Harry Potter book, so I can’t start another audiobook with my OCD exploding.
#3. I rarely have the “I have too many books to be able to pick a book” problem because, if I ever get stuck, I use Random.org’s random number generator and Goodreads to pick my next read. I’ve used this program twelve times in the past hour and it keeps picking either books over 700 pages or audiobooks. ARGH!
Any of you this crazy OCD about your reads? Please tell me I’m not alone.
Original post:
edwardlorn.booklikes.com/post/1313073/how-weird-am-i
WINNER: BEST THRILLER OF 2015
My love affair with Greg Iles’s work began this year after taking a chance on his Penn Cage series. The story about how I stumbled upon his work is laid out in gloriously laborious detail in my review.
I have since read the next two books in the series, Turning Angel and The Devil’s Punchbowl, and have finally arrived at the book that made me want to read this series to begin with — Natchez Burning. The Penn Cage books continue to exceed my expectations and have quickly become my favorite non-continuous-storyline series.
If you haven’t read anything by Iles, I suggest you start with The Quiet Game.
Original post:
edwardlorn.booklikes.com/post/1312382/winner-best-thriller-of-2015
December 25, 2015
WINNER: FIND OF THE YEAR 2015
Thanks to Gregor Xane, I was introduced to Haruki Murakami in 2015. After expressing my interest in Murakami’s 1Q84, Xane told me, “If you want a short sample of his work, try After Dark.” Am I ever glad I did.
After Dark is a rabbit-hole view of Tokyo’s nightlife. Gangsters, hookers, diner patrons, and one slumbering dreamer all blend perfectly to create this mind-bending tour of nocturnal Japan. I’ve never read anything like this book, and I doubt I will ever find its equal. Not only is this my find of the year, but it is now one of my all time favorite reads.
Original post:
edwardlorn.booklikes.com/post/1312142/winner-find-of-the-year-2015
December 24, 2015
WINNER: BEST SEQUEL OF 2015!
This post was going to be Best Young Adult Novel of 2015, but since Stand-Off is the only YA novel I read in 2015, I didn’t think that would be fair. So Best Sequel it is, then.
Stand-Off might not be amazing on its own, but when paired with the first book, Winger, the two novels shine brightly. Winger was a much more somber piece, and Stand-Off is the exact opposite. Side by side, the two books compliment each other brilliantly. Andrew Smith could have very well drifted in the same direction, but he fought the obvious and wrote a followup devoid of formula.
This is the second year in a row that Andrew Smith has made my “Best of” list. If you’ve never read an Andrew Smith book, I suggest starting with Winger or Grasshopper Jungle. This author is damn good at what he does.
Original post:
edwardlorn.booklikes.com/post/1311828/winner-best-sequel-of-2015
December 23, 2015
WINNER: BEST TRANSLATED BOOK OF 2015!
I hate highlighting probably my biggest reviewing mistake of 2015, but I also cannot ignore how amazing this book is. All throughout my review of this one, I say Koch is Norwegian when he is most obviously Dutch. It even says “Translated from the Dutch by…” on the first page. D’oh! Oh well. To everyone who pointed this out, thank you.
Initially, this award was a tie between Haruki Murakami’s After Dark and Herman Koch’s Summer House with Swimming Pool, but the latter deserves a place somewhere else on this countdown.
Original post:
edwardlorn.booklikes.com/post/1311737/winner-best-translated-book-of-2015
Push Review
Review:
I’m a big fan of books written in vernacular if the voice rings true and the book is short. Luckily, this book does not overstay its welcome. If you ignore the final essays at the end, Push is all of 150 pages long. Your average reader could mow through its text in a single sitting. But I will warn you, if you’re a self-proclaimed Grammar Nazi, your head could possibly explode. Rest assured, though, all errors and broken syntax is on purpose.
Push (or the movie tie-in title Precious), by Sapphire, is an emotionally-charged look at a sexually-abused girl and her struggle to become literate and do better for her and her children. The book is written from this molested teenager’s point of view, so you will experience her growth both in the areas of reading and maturation. The novel is equally funny and heart-wrenchingly bleak. But it is the honesty of the voice that struck me the hardest. This is not a biography. These things did not actually happen. But it feels like the relaying of true events.
Not often am I disgusted to the point of wanting to put a book down, but this book caused me to lay it aside several times. Even so, I managed to read it in a 24-hour period. Herein you will experience the most vile human behavior told in the simplest language. Poor Precious cannot win. But her struggle is fascinating. And the best part is, even at rock bottom, she finds hope.
In summation: A truly touching novel. Reading this is like witnessing the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into butterfly. Highly recommended with the caveat that this novel is sometimes hard to read due to both content and intended spelling and grammatical errors.
Final Judgment: A master class in human evil.
Original post:
edwardlorn.booklikes.com/post/1310920/push-review
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