Recent Reading - 2022

Click the occasional spoiler buttons only if you wish to see plot-revealing material.

2022-12-10
Circe
365 pages
Miller, MadelineMadeline Miller

Daughter to the Titan, Helios, who drives his flaming chariot across the sky each day, Circe isn't a typical dryad, hoping to make her own mark in the world, which is now controlled by the god Zeus after he and his offspring defeated the Titans for control of Earth. I enjoyed reading Mythology by Edith Hamilton as a youth, and appreciate the excellent, in-depth telling of part of Greek mythology.
Highly Recommended

2022-08-09
Non Player Character
352 pages
Corva, VictoriaVictoria Corva

Engaging in person with others isn't Tar's strong suit, but they like to join in role playing games. After being introduced to a small RPG group, Tar finds unexpected acceptance from the others who share in non-threatening ways. A set of dice comes their way and The group suddenly finds themselves inside the game they have imagined.
Highly Recommended

2022-06-09
Golden Prey
392 pages
Sandford, JohnJohn Sandford

Stealing millions from a drug cartel puts you in line to be found and killed by the drug cartel. Killing a six-year-old during the robbery attracts the attention of Lucas Davenport, a freshly minted U.S. Marshall. He's not really new to law enforcement. He just hasn't had a case that interests him since starting this political appointed position. All his training needs to come into play against this criminal, and there's lots of peripheral damage from the cartel's killers.
Highly Recommended

2022-06-02
Fortune and Glory
304 pages
Evanovich, JanetJanet Evanovich

The search for the Lazy Boys' treasure gets under way in earnest. Grandma and Stephanie are targets of two of the old guard Lazy Boys. Kidnapping and explosions abound, with lots of car damage.
Recommended

2022-05-25
The Evening and the Morning
913 pages
Follett, KenKen Follett

Late 900s Western England is beset by Viking raids and Edgar's boat building career plans are doomed when the vikings strike his coastal town. His father is killed and Edgar, along with his mother and two older brothers must move to another small town to start over as farmers. Edgar's family becomes embroiled in the politics of England's minor nobility. This novel is the prequel to the already famous series that began with Pillars of the Earth. The characters are strong and well written.
Highly Recommended

2022-05-10
Twenty-Five to Life
294 pages
Greene, R.W.W.R.W.W. Greene

Either live in a state-provided box and dive into artificial reality or become a traveller and face the dangers of the road
Highly Recommended

2022-05-05
Spelunking Through Hell
388 pages
McGuire, SeananSeanan McGuire

InCriptid series about Alice Price-Healy, jumping through dimensions to find long lost husband Thomas Price who has been stuck in a dead-end dimension, put there by the malevolent Crossroads.
Highly Recommended

2022-04-15
The Fallen
272 pages
Hoffman, AdaAda Hoffman

Fallen Angels, who are technology-enhanced humans, and an Outside-altered "Savior" clash with each other and deal with remaking a planet which incorporates the Outside
Highly Recommended

2022-03-29
The Outside
358 pages
Hoffman, AdaAda Hoffman

A source of endless power fails, killing hundreds. The artificial intelligence "gods" are angry when they fear they might lose control of humanity's destiny to "The Outside"
Highly Recommended

2022-03-20
Depth of Winter
244 pages
Johnson, CraigCraig Johnson

Walt's kidnapped daughter forces a trip to Mexico to save her.
Highly Recommended

2022-02-01
Diving Into the Wreck
268 pages
Rusch, Kristine KathrynKristine Kathryn Rusch

Space wrecks are not common, but they are also not rare. Sometimes they are well-known and a divemaster can make a decent living escorting thrill-seeker novices on vacation trips. But there are also "fresh" wrecks, and that's the kind Boss likes. Some wrecks yield significant salvage value, but the one she's just found is something really special, and impossibly old.
Highly Recommended

2022-01-13
Harmony
382 pages
Saintcrow, LilithLilith Saintcrow

High school sucks, especially when a girl must switch schools...again. Pile your mother's sudden death on top of that. Then mix in a fire when you move into your dad's apartment. What more could go wrong?
Highly Recommended

2022-01-03
Dune
896 pages
Herbert, FrankFrank Herbert

This is a book I read many years ago, but decided to read again in the time of a new movie version. I remembered enjoying the book with its mix of politics, religion, guilds, ecology, etc. I enjoyed reading the book again. It had been long enough that I had forgotten much of the plot. As before, though, I was glad to be reminded that the battles were not a focus of the story. Instead, they happened off "screen". I have not seen the recent movie, but I wonder if it will be able to avoid big battle scenes. Those battle scenes were among the reasons I did not enjoy "Star Wars" movies.
Highest Recommended

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Authors List

This year's authors in alphabetical order with duplicates removed.
It may not be very useful to anyone, but was good for ongoing JavaScript practice.
How it was done (in part)