Category: Books

Since I’d really been into the military, especially the special forces as a little kid I thought I’d read Fearless.

It always amazes me how close to reality playing with G.I Joe toys as a kid played out. As special forces became so important with the enemy often times being small terrorist groups. Hasbro must be psychics.

This was a pretty interesting and at times amazing story about the life of a pretty interesting guy. It was really interesting and inspiring to hear about the many highs and lows he encountered and his determination to get through those lows, never giving up.

Even though I’ve been going pretty hard with my post elbow surgery rehab before reading. After hearing how he overcame especially numerous injures, it did give me a bit more inspiration that I can get back to where I was before surgery and maybe even better.

A very good story.

I was completely at a loss with my last library visit even though I told myself last time to go in with picking up something in mind. So I checked out the new arrivals yet again and grabbed Dancing Dogs because there was a dog on the cover.

It turned out to be a collection of short stories about dogs. I wasn’t really expecting this, but it did make for a pretty quick read.

When I see dogs I think happy, but sadly the majority of the stories were country music sad. I was really bummed out while reading a few of them. Not the positive, uplifting experience I was thinking when I saw the cover.

I think this one would’ve probably been better suited to an older audience than myself. While I always enjoy anything dog related, I do need to find a more positive ending with the next dog book I eventually try.

I was really stumped at the library, I feel as though I’ve read everything by now (realistically closer to .005%). So I randomly walked into fiction and grabbed Shades of Grey. Not to be confused with 50 Shades of Grey, I think they’re much different.

This turned out to be complete nonsense for the most part. However nonsense can be very amusing, so I did get some chuckles reading it.

The first half or so started a bit too slow for me, but the second half picked it up and I liked the later chapters. I really should consider just reading the second half of books.

Coincidentally I have read another book from Fforde, and that too was some silliness involving nursery rhymes.

I was really stumped with what to read next. Thought I knew it wouldn’t happen, I thought something would just amazingly jump out and beg that I read it. I must remember to always enter the library with a plan in the future, or at least kinda a plan.

At work the school always has a college book that they incorporate into the courses every year. So I figured I’d look over that list online somewhere and give one of those books a shot. I went with The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime because it had dog in the title and I recalled seeing the cover in the past.

It turned out to be nothing at all what I was expecting. While a dog is mentioned early on (a murdered one at that) and a puppy at the very end, it was mostly a tale told through the eyes of an autistic child. It was very interesting to read something that was written (or attempted to be written) from an autistic point of view.

It was a very good book and I enjoyed reading it a lot. A thought a lot of thought went into it, even with the chapters being in all prime numbers (it makes sense if you read it). I’m really glad I gave this one a shot and can see why the school put it on it’s college book list a few years ago.

As a known sucker for any dog based/themed book I choose to give A Fistful of Collars a shot when I noticed it in the new arrivals section. I’ve read a previous book in the Chet and Bernie series, so I figured why not continue.

It’s a mystery series about a private investigator and his dog, but written from the dog’s (Chet) point of view. Again, how can you go wrong with a book written from a dog’s point of you?

I thought this was very cleverly written and pretty funny at times. I’ve always wondered what dogs are thinking at times, and the author does a solid job of humorously assuming what they might actually be thinking if there were telling a tale from their point of view.

This book was a great break from a very busy work week. It was nice to pick up something that was a fun but also puzzling read. Chet is a fine dog and loyal partner.

Continuing with the history trend I’ve been on, I noticed an Army of Evil in the new arrivals section and figured I’d give it a shot. I can understand why someone would do something good, but with always stumps me as to why someone would do something so bad as the SS did.

I found the first half or so of the book to be a bit boring to me. I guess I was expecting to find out that some of these villains had a more interesting history to them. Sadly, they were for the most part just regular people like pretty much most I know.

The efficiency that was achieved in carrying out their race crimes towards the end of WWII was pretty shocking. To read of the numbers of deaths is hard to fathom, even though I pretty much knew the amounts before hand.

The later parts of the book were a bit more interesting, but morbid as well. Very hard to believe that people would commit such acts against other people.

My next book will have to be a much happier one.