Crime Scene at the Cardwell Ranch by B. J. Daniels

I volunteered at the Xcel Energy booth at the Minnesota State Fair. Prior to working at the booth, I wandered around the fair with Caroline and Clay. One of the free things we picked up was a book from topless cowboys. It was a mystery with a major romantic subplot. Being from Harlequin, I expected it to be mostly just erotic literature with a mystery plot to get from one steamy scene to another. However, it was mostly a bad mystery that spent a lot of time talking about how the two main characters felt about each other. I mostly read this one because the bus ride back to the car was really long, so I got about half way through on the bus. I wouldn't read this one again and I probably will just recycle it.

Here's the picture Caroline wanted. She didn't quite get up the courage to ask them for a picture, so I made one for her. I don't have many pictures of her.

Pages: 248

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

I purchased this book at Borderlands. The staff there is fairly helpful--I am doing my early Christmas shopping and wanted a sci-fi or fantasy book for my cousin. Her parents are rather religious and tend not to let her read a lot of stuff. I got her Pride and Prejudice and Zombies for last Christmas and that was not acceptable. Levaithan was the suggestion made by the Borderlands staff. It is steampunk and apparently slightly subversive, but doesn't have any magic or undead people.

The book was okay. A very fast read (three or four hours) with somewhat compelling characters. Maybe I just don't connect as well with teenage characters. I don't want to search out the next book right now, but I would be willing to read it if I came across it. I think a very interesting book could be written in this universe, with the steam/biopunk interactions. The genetic engineering is less polished than in universes such as The Windup Girl. Levaithan is good enough as a gift for my cousin, but I'll wait for her reaction before buying the next in the series.

Pages: 440

Anathem by Neal Stephenson

In my quest for anything to read, I picked up Anathem again. I wish Anathem were more interesting, but it does an excellent job of pulling me in. Even though I've read it before, I still enjoy re-reading the entire book. The various words that Stephenson invented were nifty the first time, but now I just gloss over them and substitute the normal words without thought. The Anathem world is a very interesting place.

Pages: 1008

The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter

This was the used book I purchased at Borderlands. I've been meaning to read something by Baxter, but never seem to remember when I'm at the library.

I initially didn't even want to start reading this book. It take up where Well's Time Machine leaves off. I appreciate that Well's was very important to science fiction, but I do not enjoy any of his books. The writing style annoys me, particularly the first person narration by an annoying person who really enjoys pontificating. The Time Ships keeps the narrator, but makes him a little less annoying and writes a much more interesting story. This story becomes slightly tedious when it goes through various periods of history and far too didactic. I don't really need a lesson in both the futility of life and that people need to go on afterward. However, this was good enough to spend my travel day reading.

Pages: 544

The Prefect by Alastair Reynolds

This novel isn't as good as some of the earlier books in the Revelation Space series. This book was enjoyable enough, but not particularly worth the $7.99+tax. I liked the more technological parts of this book, but didn't particularly care for the more political statements or the foreshadowing of the Plague time. I am much happier that The Prefect was written after the better books in the Revelation Space series because I wouldn't want to those books ruined by the foreshadowing in this book.

Pages: 416

Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson

I mailed this book to Travis a while back. He thought it was decent, but not good enough to bother reading the other books in the series. I wanted to look at Red Mars because I read Moving Mars a while back. I still think Red Mars was more interesting on the whole, but Moving Mars was more physics science and less social science.

Pages: 592

Children of Dune by Frank Herbert

I was still out of things to read and I recently read Dune, so Children of Dune came next (I don't own the one between the two). This was okay, but not nearly as good as Dune.

Pages: 416