Other Book Reviews

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John LeCarre
Honorable Schoolboy was great.  Little Drummer Girl was incredible.  Smiley's People was great.  The Russia House was great.  A Murder of Quality was all right.  I have the rest.  Just waiting til I get on a plane to read them.  The Naive and Sentimental Lover was his only non-spy book, and it's almost unreadable.

Dick Francis
Decider was all right.  I've read another.  Really light, positive crime solving involving race-tracks in England.  There are a bunch of them.

Robert Littell
The Company covers 50 years in the CIA.  Really long.  Some good bits.  But nothing compared to le Carre.  TONS of drinking.

Iris Murdoch
The Nice and the Good was ok.  I'm just not into that kind of stuff.

Thomas Pynchon
The Crying of Lot 49 was pretty good.  I'll read more.

Dean Koontz
Cold Fire was just surprisingly good.  Mostly horror, I suppose.  Light, fast, he's a better writer than 90% of SF authors.  I might actually read more.  There are a bunch.  Good airplane reading.

Joseph Conrad
Lord Jim- I got this while on vacation, and it sort of grabbed me.  I liked it.  British colonialism.

Robert Stone
Outerbridge Reach was pretty good.  Sailing.  A Flag for Sunrise was good.  Dog Soldiers was great - vietnam era herion smugglers.

James Ellroy
My Dark Years was great.  Story of his childhood, alcoholism, 60s addiction to speed, strange recovery and conversion to a professional writer.  Black Dahlia was pretty good.  I'll read more.  True Crime.

Anonymous
Primary Colors was pretty good.  I like Clinton, and now I feel like I know him better.  His inability to finish My Life in time makes sense now.  This book wasn't super great though.

Vladimir Nabokov
Transparent Things was ok.

Clive Barker
Coldheart Canyon was pretty good.  Horror.  A good writer.  Good plot.  Not cliches.  Good ending.  A bit long.  Way too gross.  Not scary.  Not suspenseful.  I'll almost read more of him.  Just gotta find out whether to go forward or backward.

Martin Amis
London Fields was terrible.  That's it for him.

Patrick O'Brian
British Royal Navy period novels.  I love sailing books.  And I like the military.  So, I really like them.  Plus they're hard enough to get into and understand that it's rewarding.  Throws in a bit of history of science and espionage.  I read the first 10 or so out of 19.  I'll get around to rereading them and then finishing the series once I get a glossary of 18th century naval terms, and an illustrated guide to all types of ships of the royal navy.