Revenge

"Innocent Little Crimes" by C. S. Lakin was depressing a good deal of the time, but resonated with its message that we all create ourselves by lots of little acts.  Revenge was looked at under a microscope and the fact that once you attain it, what is left?  I did like the preceding situations of the main characters and the after situations.  I hate being left to wonder too much.  You knew some one was going to die but not who or why.  I would recommend it.  I would be curious as to whom the main character reminded you of.

The Plague

Frank Herbert's book "The Plague" left me with "Wow!".  It was very thought-provoking and rather scary in that it could happen.  This was written in the 80's-a time before a lot of the technology he mentions was a reality.  A scientist gets revenge when his wife and children were killed in a bomb set by the IRA in England.  He creates a virus that only kills women.  There are lengthy descriptions of the methods of altering dna.  I could have just taken his word, but true science fiction fans would appreciate the details.  Toward the end I was skipping over that.  For Shame!  And his ongoing explanations of the Irish angst was a little much.  However, the scary part is you could totally see the world's reactions in the way he explained.  And right now there is a meningitis fungal killer caused by contaminated medicine.  I have got to stop reading apocalyptic novels.  It is just too scary.  Oh, did I mention I am reading the book "The Island-Fallen Earth" by Michael Stark?  They do it in parts, doggone it, but the second part is when I really got spooked.  

Criteria

Have been thinking a lot lately of the criteria that I subconsciously use to determine if I like a book or not.  When you are an omnivorous (bless spellchecker!) reader, are there certain characteristics in all types of books make it a good read? 
1.  Before you even start reading, does the review of the book sound like a thinly veiled copy of another best seller?  It may be a good book, but sorry - I am tired of teenage girl who's boyfriend is a vampire, werewolf, etc.  Also tired of Harry Potter clones where the boy is pitifully downtrodden and finds he has magic powers. Even the Hunger Games theme is starting to wear thin. I will use the book I just finished for my model, since it is the one that coalesced my criteria train of thought.  The book "Past Perfect" by Susan Isaacs was one I traded for at the campground laundry room so did not get on Amazon.  Love it that at most campgrounds they have books you can trade.  Okay, the cover review stated that the heroine had been fired from the CIA but was never told why.  It is now 15 years later and she is writing scripts for a tv spy show.  A semi-fresh plot, okay!
2.  As I read, do I want to know what the ending is?  Do I even care?  If I am well into the book and still don't care how it ends, I usually stop reading it.  This one I wanted to know why she got fired.  It was something you could really relate to.
3.  Can I relate to the hero?  Sometimes they are so obnoxious you don't care what happens to them.  You don't want someone perfect.  That gets boring fast. So, yes, the woman in this book was believable and likable, even with her flaws.  I loved that in her thoughts she would think worst case scenarios and best case scenarios.  Too human.  There was humor, but not overdone.
4.  Did I think about the book when I was not reading it?  Did I ponder what might happen and what the end might be?  Yes.
5.  Was I really into the story and did not put the book down?  Translation:  Did I snarl at anyone who bothered me while I was reading?  Did I put off doing other things so I could read one more chapter?  Yep!
 6.  Was there enough typos and grammatical errors that it really detracted from the flow of the book?  That can become quite annoying.  Too many errors pull you back to the surface of the book.  If this book had them, I did not notice.  
7.  Did I like the ending? Was it satisfying?  Some books really let you down at the end.  I don't care how realistic it may be, I want a decent ending.  In "The Hunger Games" third and final book, it was the best ending that could come out of the situation.  Through the book, I kept thinking this just can't have a good ending.  It was definitely an anticlimax. Jules Verne was known to have written very depressing endings to his stories, and his publisher would make him rewrite them on a more upbeat note.  As to "Past Perfect", the ending was quite satisfying.
I was going to add an 8th item, but changed my mind.  It would have been, "Was I helped by others' reviews?  Sometimes.  Ironically, since I did not get this on line, I had not read the reviews.  I was dismayed when I later did, and they were pretty negative.   Would I have read this book if I had read the reviews first? I don't know.
Is there anything else that might determine the worth of a book? 

A Place of Rest

Just finished a Kindle/Amazon book called "A Place of Rest" by Luke Spychalla.  It was a good book that held my interest but seemed to jump from one genera to another.  It started out very futuristic sci-fi then evolved into spiritual/mythical.  The author fluctuated between the future date and past dates.  That was done smoothly, I thought, even though it did not say when it was each time.  The descriptive pictures painted by the author were lovely and you felt a part of them, although sometimes it was over-done and carried on too long.  Those seemed to slow down the narrative and bring you back from being engrossed by the story.  I thought the science descriptions were done well without going into too much detail.  All in all, would I recommend it?  Yes.  I had to read it all to find out the ending.  Was I satisfied with the ending?  Not quite but it did not leave you hanging.   

Cowardly Reader

Do you find that sometimes you are afraid to continue reading because you know something bad is going to happen?  I call it my cowardly streak.  I just want to yell, "Don't go in there!" or "Don't do that!"  Now it seems that I am really into the story but could it be that not enough of my conscious is caught in the story that I can still think rationally?  Ah, yes, blame it on the author.  I did finish one book like that called "Kinesis" by Ethan Spier.  It has a very interesting premise that people who discover they have telekinetic abilities, deteriorate into madness, so anyone with that ability is put into a special prison.  Of course, there is always the fear of people that are not just different but have extra abilities.  It was a good story and I do recommend it but Oh, My!  I knew what was coming.  Okay, so now should I go finish the third book in the Hunger Games, "Mockingjay"?  I can't see any good way out of this.  And too many characters that I had grown to like have died.  However, a charming young man has told me it comes out well at the end.  We will see.

Andrew Mayne's Latest

Andrew Mayne has become one of my favorite authors...until I read his current book "Angel Killer".  I know that he has vast experience in doing magic tricks and has written definitive books for magicians, but some how his being a beautiful woman magician turned FBI agent just does not click.  This was not a book that I could not put down nor did it have moments where I held my breath.  There were interesting explanations for some illusions.  All in all, was an interesting book, but not up to what I expected from Mr. Mayne.  I do love his site Weirdthings.com.  People send in weird news stories. 

The Study Series

Wow!  My daughter recommended the study series books by Maria V. Snyder.   Since she is usually right about what I like, I bought the bundled set.  I absolutely love them.  I am on the last book.  This is one series that I have not gotten tired of.  With some authors, it seems that their books get predictable after you have read a few of them.  Did not find it so with this author.  I hope to read other books by her.

Personal Life

I have always preferred that bloggers leave as much of their personal lives as possible out of their blogs if it had a particular theme.  Now I see that is pretty hard to do.  It seems that what we experience in life affects what we read.  What started me thinking in this direction was reading "Murder Takes A Bow" by Liz Marvin. It was a fairly good mystery but was so much about diabetes-the guilt of having it, the hereditary factors, what to eat, how to cook, symptoms.  Enough, already!  I would have much preferred the book if it had been a little more subtle.  However, I did read it all and was disappointed with the ending.  Bummer!

Back to personal lives.  I think one of the reasons I so like "The Hunger Games" was that I could relate to the poverty and finding things in the woods for food.  I just finished the second book in that series - "Catching Fire".  Loved it and could not put it down or get it out of my mind, even if the end left me hanging.  I will definitely read the third one. 

Since, in two days, I will start selling for two weeks, I will try to finish some of the books I have started because there is very little time for reading during that period, plus I don't want to get into a really good book and read half the night.  Oh, yes, I have been known to do that.

Yes, I am going to pay more attention to why certain books catch and hold my interest.  That does not include what I read because there is nothing else around to read.  Uh, that leads to another train of thought to pick up later. 

Unexpected

Yes, I read "The Hunger Games".  I had not planned to but my sister assured me I would like it.  I really did not want to read about children having to kill other children.  Much to my surprise, it was so good I could not put it down.  It was one of a few books that really stay in my mind and I will pull out parts to mull over.  It was well done and handled with finesse.  I did realize that there were parts that I related to only too well as having grown up in a poor rural environment.  Now I am ready for the next book.  Can it be as good?

Different Genre

Started a book I thought was about archeology called "Canyon of Bones" by Richard S. Wheeler. As I read, I realized it was a western.  I rarely read westerns, but by the time I realized, I was hooked and had to finish the book.  It was well-written and really kept my interest.  Have I learned a lesson here-not to judge a book by its genre?