Picked up The Jewel Hinged Jaw, Samuel Delany. Because Delany came up in a conversation recently and then I came across this little screed on io9:overmind http://io9.com/5910814/what-samuel-r-delany-can-tell-publishing-about-its-latest-trend
Typically shallow but hits a pain point of mine about how many authors have succumbed to the production line via ghost writers and co-authors and how the product has suffered.
In the midst of Gods without Men, Hari Kunzru. Mixed reviews on Amazon but recommended by a couple of people I trust. I’m glad I started it. Yes, the narrative structure is a bit odd and there doesn’t seem to be a capital ‘P’ plot, but not everything in the world has to follow the three act arc.
Sandman Slim, Richard Kadrey. Read because I found the single phrase “like God’s tiny tyrannosaurus rex” in an excerpt amusing. I’m not a horror fan but it was funny enough to send me looking for another Kadrey. (and it went well with migraine.)
HebrewPunk, Lavie Tidhar. One of my favorite writers of the moment disappointed me. Admittedly one of his early efforts. Not worth the time even if you like Yiddish myth and legend. Sigh.
Wind Through the Keyhole, Stephen King. A fairy tale. I like fairy tales. This made up for the last 2 Dark Tower books.
A bunch of dog training books. Because the world moves on and the puppy raising books that I leant someone so long ago and never got back are outdated anyway. The basics never change. The tricks of the trade are refined. The research updates enough to make the sequence of assigned tasks a little different. I have yet to find my replacement for the nicely balanced approach of “Mother Knows Best.”
PS When you bork the Kindle app on an iPad because you are switching iTunes from one computer to another you lose all of the samples that you have downloaded and thus lose all of the books queued for possible inclusion in your reading list. Is that hellishly annoying? Or a fresh start?