Book Blog: X by Sue Grafton and Earthfall by Joshua Guess

X is the latest in the Kinsey Millhone alphabet mystery series. When I saw the title I thought it was half a cheat, since all the others have been in the "A for Alibi", "B for Burglar" format and I had been waiting to see what Grafton would have for X. It turns out to be someone's name, Xanakis, and to involve a complicated past of folks lying to one another, and one of the creepier/psycho bad guys whom private invstigator Kinsey has encountered. There is also one of the nastiest old age pensioners ever, an 80-year-old con artist.

I'm experiencing a period of bleh (otherwise known as depression) so this is a less detailed report than I meant to write, but these are not meant to be complete reviews, unless anyone asks me to write one. I'm two months into my year for blogging everything I read. Well, except fanfiction :-)

Since reading X, I've read quite a few samples of books on my Kindle but haven't settled for actually buying any of them yet, except for one.

This was Joshua Guess's Earthfall which I found to be a considerable disappointment, given my appreciation of his zombie series. It was full of imagined future tech for an Earth colony which exists after Earth has been taken over by aliens, with characters almost as an afterthought. I actually clicked through page after page of this waiting for some of the thoughtful interaction and philosophy of his other books, but nothing. It seemed all too easy for his genetically designed viewpoint character, who ends up getting the girl. She's the leader of the Earth resistance who kicks ass and takes names, but still, he gets her.

What should I read next? Anyone who is actually reading this, give me a recommendation and if it's $10 or less on Kindle, I'll read it there or get it from the library.

Helsinki

I'm trying to improve my mood and that works better when I have goals. So I have decided to try to get to the Helsinki Worldcon.

To that end; one supporting membership. Too many bills right now to get the full works. I've looked at flights and been pleasantly surprised by the fact that (judging by this year anyway) I can do it more cheaply than a flight to the USA. The flights involve layovers, which I was going to do anyway because this fan is too decrepit to do the whole flight in one go without sleep any more. Who am I kidding? Doing that has wrecked me every time. Only time I enjoyed it was when I was five and travelling to England and I could sleep on a parent, just like a baby. :-)

Anyway, I know i'll be looking to save wherever I can. Room sharing, if I can find someone who wants to split costs. It would be nice to see something of Finland, so hopefully I can find a way to do that. I don't know for sure if I snore, but my last room-mate didn't notice.