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Luke & Books |
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I am really fond of reading. Perhaps that's not so cool, but I really don't care, I like books and read pretty much everything I can get my hands on. I like some genres more than others of course. I'm very into Science Fiction and Fantasy. I prefer historic novels to books set in the current day. I generally prefer fiction, but I do read (and re-read) lots of works on philosophy, humanism, atheism and science. |
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Favourite Authors |
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| I read a lot, pretty
much omnivorously, but these are some favourite authors: Terry Pratchett, Kim Harrison, Philip Pullman, Patricia Briggs, Richard Dawkin, J.R.R. Tolkien, Anne Rice, Anne McCaffrey, Jim Butcher, Charlaine Harris, Terry Brooks, Piers Anthony, Rachel Caine, Jeaniene Frost, Christopher Hitchens, Richelle Mead, the list is pretty much endless. |
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Recent Reads.... |
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| I thought I would add the books I've read and enjoyed since starting this little website. | |||
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I am a huge fan of naval fiction. My cousin who is mad on sailing
introduced me to the works of Patrick O'Brien (Aubrey-Maturin
novels) and I read the first Julian Stockwin novel about newly
pressed man Thomas Kydd on a beach in Cornwall. Treachery is the 9th
in the series, seeing Kydd sent to the Channel Islands in disgrace
after loosing the his fiancé and place in society (in The Admirals
Daughter). Stockwin has a wonderful way of building characters
whilst creating evocative images of the Napoleon era of history. The
Channel Islands came alive as a place uniquely English and as full
of smugglers as Kings ships. Downcast and betrayed by a jealous
fellow captain, Kydd is forced to become a privateer taking a
"Letter of Marque" to sail against the Kings enemies privately. It's
an exciting novel and leads Captain Kydd to a fortune and back from
the depths of despair. With Invasion, we see Captain Kydd returned to his beloved brig Teazer and into the front line of the naval war against Napoleon. Based at the Downs squadron, Kydd is drawn into the politics behind the naval position and made to understand the knifes edge of danger that England stands in from France. Kydd also takes steps to make a place for himself in society, moving further from the clipped speech of a foremast jack into the educated and reasoned tones of a gentleman. Invasion is a cracking good adventure and I was delighted to read that Julian Stockwin plans a total of 18 novels in the Kydd series. |
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Richard Dawkins gives us another best seller this time with
evolution as its topic. How do we know evolution is true? Because it
is supported by all the facts and evidence of Molecular Biology,
Embryology, Genetics, Palaeontology, Geology etc etc. Millions of
fossils, incontrovertible evidence from biochemistry and genetics.
We know only know that evolution happens, scientist also understand
a great deal about how it happens. Richard Dawkins writes with an easy going style so you don't have to be well educated in science to understand the evidence as he sets it out, and if you're curious there is an excellent section of reference materials at the end. |
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| The Saga of the Exiles by Julian May starts off rather slow (like many epics) introducing characters for a long time. The story soon gets going and the books become well paced and span a fantasy history and future. The main characters are sent back millions of years through a time portal... I like that May isn't afraid to let the story build, unlike some authors who get scared of having a loose end for a while.. everything draws together in an epic story! I'm enjoying the series very much! | |||
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The Urban Shaman series introduces Joanne Walker, a mechanic working
for Seattle Police Department, flying home from Ireland. A chance
sight of a woman in trouble as her plane banks to land has her
rushing to the rescue and into trouble! The woman she hopes to
rescue is a banshee being chased by the Wild Hunt.. and soon Joanne
has to open her mind and soul to embrace both her Cherokee and
Celtic ancestry and has three days to learn to use her shamanic
powers and save the world from the unleashed Wild Hunt. The series is refreshing and in turns funny and adventurous. Catie Murphy weaves a world which has a particularly American mixture of Native Indian mysticism along with a strong vein of Celtic legend, which I think reflects the mixed cultural background of the USA. The stories are none the worse for being similar to other stories (Patricia Briggs springs to mind). |
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Vampire Academy is the story of Rose, a vampire guardian, and Lissa
her best friend and the vampire princess she must defend. The
"boarding school for vamps" idea puts up my crap alert guard when it
comes to books, but I was sceptical of the House of Night series and
enjoyed it so I thought I would give the Vampire Academy a decent
chance. I'm glad I did. Richelle Mead takes the bold step of starting a little way into the story, with Rose and Lissa "on the run" from St Vladimir's Academy and being captured (and returned) by the schools Guardians. The back plot unfolds nicely during the novel, giving you a chance to now and like Rose and Lissa and the other central characters. I'm particularly fond of Christian, a dark loner of a vampire with a keen intelligence and a surprisingly good heart. The series revolves around Meads invention of Moroi - living vampires with a magic affinity for one of the elements, Dhampirs, like Rose - guardians and protectors of the Moroi, and the undead Strigoi, who are more like the traditional vampires of legend. The Strigoi gain greater powers by feeding on the Moroi and so the guardians need to protect their Moroi charges. Ok well and good, but nothing really new. What makes the stories work are the characters Richelle Mead writes so well. Take and chance and check the series out. |
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It really shouldn't be necessary to have a book like this 150 years
after Darwin's' Origin of the Species, but with millions of
Americans claiming that evolution is not true it is sadly an
important book. Scientists don't use strong terms like "Evolution is
True" lightly. They are careful in making truth claims because
science is all about testing ideas about the world and being happy
to revise hypothesis in light of new evidence. Evolution is true,
not simply a fact - but supported by all the facts. Jerry Coyne
writes in a clear and easy style.. showing the problems a
creationist view of the world fail to answer and why (and how)
evolution explains why life is the way it is. An excellent book and easily accessible even by non-scientists. |
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| I really enjoy stories by Patricia Briggs. Her writing is clear and well paced and her characters quickly become like old friends! Bone Crossed is the latest in the series of books about Mercedes Thompson, a woman with a native American heritage that allows her to shape change into a coyote. Pretty cool, but in a world where werewolves, vampires and the mysterious fay are all real, a little coyote has to be quick on her feet to stay out of trouble. The series is a joy to read and absolute page turners! | |||
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Currently re-reading the wonderful and funny Xanth series by
Piers Anthony. The series starts with our hero Bink, a man seemingly
with no magical talent in a land where everything is magical, on a
quest find his magic. The series grows and develops from the core of
characters introduced in A Spell for Chameleon exploring a
world where shoes grow on shoetrees and people can live in a Cottage
cheese. The puns come thick and fast and always with tongue in cheek
humour. I recently bought the six most recent books in the series
and I'm wandering through those, with smiles and a great deal of
pleasure at Piers Anthony's good natured humour. |
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.PTeppic is the heir to the throne of Djelibeybi, a poor country with lots of sand, stone and pyramids. Teppic is sent off to the Assassins school in Ankh Morpork to make some money and keep him out from under foot. This is one of my favourite Discworld books and I've read it many times. Heading home from Cyprus with a long flight in front of me I wanted something fun and funny to read and this book genuinely makes me laugh out loud. Philosophers who try to prove a tortoise is faster than a speeding arrow, jobbing pyramid builders and Hat, the Vulture-Headed God of Unexpected Guests. One of Pratchett's funniest works. The Discworld novels are some of my favourite fantasy books. I really do recommend them to anyone who enjoys good stories, excellent characters and a jolly good laugh. |
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"Just when I thought my day couldn't get any worse, I saw the dead guy standing next to my locker." P.C. Cast and her daughter collaborate on the House of Night series. Vampires are real and just part of life and society, scientists even try to work out exactly what marks some teenagers to become vampires. The main character, Zoe Redbird, is a 16 year old marked to become a vampire. She is really ill and will die unless she enters "The House of Night" - a vampire finishing school. Just wanting to fit in isn't so easy when her vampire mark is different to the other kids. Zoe also learns that some vampires have special powers, or affinities, like healing, or the elements, or clairvoyance and it seems that she is the first fledgling vampire to have an affinity for all five elements... To be honest unless a friend had recommend this one I wouldn't have picked it off the shelf, but it is a well written and compelling book. The characters are likeable and the plot is fast paced and entertaining. If you liked Twilight you'll like this series. Unlike most book series the House of Night has an excellent website with lots of information about Zoe, Stevie Rae, the Twins - Erin and Shaunee and Damien. The book images about link to P.C. and Kristin Casts website. |
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| I enjoyed reading Once Dead, Twice Shy by Kim Harrison. This is a new series for me, although I'm a big fan of Kim Harrison and I've read all her Hallows series staring Rachel Morgan. Once Dead, Twice Shy although being book 1 of the Madison Avery series is actually not Madison's first appearance. Kim Harrison wrote her originally for a novella in the book Prom Nights from Hell and this story carries on from Madison's prom night. We meet her as a newly undead soul given the illusion of life by a reapers black amulet. After a couple of chapters where we're running to catch up with the back story it settles down into a pretty good angels and demons type supernatural fiction. |
| Copyright stuff. The text on this website is typed by me. A lot of the ideas won't be new, but anything quoted is probably someone else's idea and might well be copyright. Images borrowed from another site like the book covers belong to whoever holds the copyright - usually hover over the image for more information. On this page the links generally run back to Amazon.co.uk where interested readers can find the books I'm reading. |
