Good streak

I’ve been on a very good reading streak lately, three of the last four books were excellent and the other very good, probably why I read all of them in a pretty short time.

I read Yann Martel’s books starting from the last because I wanted to read something by him but wasnt all that interested in any of them. I was so wrong! I loved all of them and Life of Pi was an especially big surprise because it wasnt what I expected. Blork as a short review that matches my thoughts exactly.

Up next was Baroque-A-Nova, the story of a kid in Vancouver living through the resurgence of his seventies folk icon parents’ band. I have an account at Singlefile where you can basically keep a database of your books. The fun is that it’s linked to Amazon for info and suggestions. The reason I’m mentionning it is that I have a category named Young Bastards. It’s where I put kids writing brilliant novels that make anyone who’s ever dreamt of writing a book insane with jealousy. This one isnt quite brilliant but it does fit very nicely in the category.

The third book is also by a canadian (and I dont even choose them on purpose!): Flash Forward is not the latest by Robert J. Sawyer but for some reason I just got around to it and it’s a shame because it’s yet another great tale of near future Sci-Fi sprinkled with hard science and some pop culture and canadiana winks. He writes better Crichton than Crichton. Pick any of his books and give it a try.

The fourth book is from another Young Bastard, Nick McDonell who wrote Twelve which was published when he was 17. That’s 17 people! Born in 1984!! I’ve seen better writing but it’s still excellent and a very sharp, clear eyed look on his contemporaries. There are loads of quotes from reviewers in the first page and this one should give you a good idea of the caliber:

Nick McDonell is the real thing. The ratio of age to talent is horrifying. His trick is he writes the truth. I’m afraid he will do for his generation what I did for mine.—Hunter S. Thompson

That’s Hunter S. freakin’ Thompson!

Last part of the good streak isnt a book, it’s Pirates of the Caribbean which I also loved. Once again I’ll be lazy and point you to a post by another blogging buddy: C-speed chick cover’s it well but huh… for me take out the parts about Orlando Bloom and hobbits and let me say the lady wasnt completely forgettable.