Tag / Greg Rucka

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Autographed Books – A Gentleman’s Game

gentlemansgameIt’s week 7 of our look back at the novels I’ve gotten autographed over the years and we return to Greg Rucka and the first novel based on his Queen & Country comic book series, A Gentleman’s Game.  Published in 2005, this is the fourth Rucka novel that I’ve covered in this series to date.

Thanks to the publishing date, I can narrow down the source of the autograph to Wizard World Chicago, perhaps one of my last ones.  Queen & Country was a favorite at the time and the move from comic to novel was one I enjoyed.

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Autographed Books – Keeper

keeperIt’s week 5 of our look back at the novels I’ve gotten autographed over the years and we return to Greg Rucka and the first novel in the Atticus Kodiak series. This was the first Rucka novel I read way back in 1999 and the third I have covered in this series to date.

Similar to the previous two, I can narrow down the autograph to either the San Diego Comic Con or the Chicago Comic Con, which eventually became Wizard World Chicago. I attended San Diego in 2000 and 2003 and all of the local cons between the books release until the late 2000s. Rucka was a regular attendee at these cons, as he was moving back and forth between Marvel and DC at the time.

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Autographed Books – Shooting At Midnight

shootingmidnightWeek 3 of our look back at the novels I’ve gotten autographed over the years and we return to Greg Rucka and the fourth novel in the Atticus Kodiak series.  This was the second of the 3 Rucka novels I read in 2000 and have subsequently covered in this series.

Similar to Smoker, I can narrow down the autograph to either the San Diego Comic Con or the Chicago Comic Con, both of which I attended often in the early 2000s.  The quote that went along with the autograph this time is a Neil Young lyric, which ties in wonderfully with the plot of the book, at least as I remember it 16 years later.

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Autographed Books – Smoker

smokerFor the next 12 weeks, we will take a look at the 12 hardcover books that I’ve managed to get autographed by the author over the years.  We start off today with Smoker, the third entry in Greg Rucka’s Atticus Kodiak series.  Released in 1999, I read the book in 2000, one of 3 Rucka novels I consumed that year.

I can narrow down the source of the autograph to one of two locations: San Diego Comic Con or Wizard World Chicago (nee the Chicago Comic Con).  I attended San Diego in 2000 and 2003 and all of the local cons between the books release until the late 2000s.  Rucka was a regular attendee at these cons, as he was moving back and forth between Marvel and DC at the time.

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Prolific Authors 2015

bookshelfWay back in December of 2011 and again in December of 2013, we took a look back at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school.  Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 51 books from 42 different authors.  There shouldn’t be much movement over the past 2 years, but it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much in that time span.  Once again, we will be limiting ourselves to the now 54 authors from whom I have read more than one book.

Author Name Current Total 2013 Total Difference
Nancy Holder 13 13 0
Greg Rucka 13 12 1

Greg Rucka moves into a tie for my most-prolific author, thanks to his latest which I read last year.  Assuming he stays on the same schedule, he should take the lead by himself sometime next year.

Christopher Golden 12 12 0
Stephen King 12 10 2

After years of being ignored, Stephen King adds 2 new titles to his total over the past 2 years.

Richard Castle 9 5 4
Brad Meltzer 9 8 1

The top 5 rounds out with Brad Meltzer and Richard Castle, who put up the largest increase in the last 2 years. Continue reading →

by jim

2014: The Year In Books

2014books

With another year coming to an end, it is time to take a look back at the 23 books I read over the past year, an increase of 5 from last year. Of those 23, 7 were non-fiction and, of the 16 novels, 8 were TV show tie-ins. Only 5 of the books came from the “to-read” drawer, and 8 were e-books.  I read a grand total of 9000 pages, the most in 1 year since 1992.

A majority of the books I read this year were by authors I’ve never read before. The 14 authors that I read for the first this year were:
Amy Poehler
James VanOsdol
John Passarella
Mary Karr
Thomas E. Sniegoski
William Lashner
Teresa Strasser
Adam Carolla
Bryan Bishop
John Green
Rob Thomas
Jennifer Graham
Brian Jay Jones
Gord Rollo

The ghost writer(s) for Richard Castle and David Mack were the only authors I read multiple times in 2014.

The six books that I read this year that were released this year were Richard Castle’s Wild Storm, Amy Poehler’s Yes Please, Greg Rucka’s Bravo, William Lashner’s The Barkeep, Adam Carolla’s President Me, and The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham.

Finally, the breakdown by month.  Vacations in April and December certainly helped pad their totals a tad bit.
Continue reading →

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Book 13 (of 52) – Bravo

Bravo - Greg Rucka

Bravo – Greg Rucka

2 years ago, Greg Rucka introduced us to Jad Bell and his team of Delta Force operatives in Alpha.  His follow-up, Bravo, picks up a few weeks later, with Bell and his team hot on the trail on the people behind the attack at the Wilsonville amusement park.

Rucka gives us a more straight-laced military thriller than last time, something more akin to his Queen & Country works.  He picks up the threads from his last book and weaves them into a satisfying follow up, while still leaving room for the series to continue.  Will there be a Charlie in our future? I, for one, am looking forward to it.

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52 Books in 52 Weeks – 2014 Edition

bookshelfA new year is upon us, and it is time to start year five of the goal to read a book a week for the entire year, totaling 52 books in 52 weeks.  In year one, I only made it to 8 books.  Year two doubled that total.  Year three used graphic novels to improve once again, finishing with 24.  Last year was the first where I dropped from the year before, only finishing 18 books, which was well short of the ultimate goal.

I’m going to give it another go this year.  I’ve got a few new books loaded in the Kindle app on my iPad, so I’ve got a good pile to start with.  As a reminder, the rules I am using are:

  • You can count a book as read as long as you have completed the book in 2014 and at least 50% of that reading takes place in 2014
  • Any book counts as long as you’re not embarrassed to count it.
  • Poetry collections do indeed count.
  • Re-reading a book is okay as long as it isn’t done this year. (Reading Twilight twice in 2010 only counts as 1 read)
  • Audiobooks also count.

My first book of the year will likely be The Big Nowhere, the last of the L.A. Quartet from James Ellroy which I am about 100 pages into.  There is also the rest of the Star Trek trilogy that I started last year and a new Greg Rucka novel coming out in June that I have already pre-ordered.

 

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Prolific Authors 2013

bookshelfWay back in December of 2011, I took our first look back at the authors I have read the most dating back to high school.  Since that time, I’ve read 34 books from 31 different authors.  I don’t think there is going to be much movement since then, but it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much in that time.  Once again, we will be limiting ourselves to the now 47 authors from whom I have read more than one book.

Author Name Current Total 2011 Total Difference
Nancy Holder 13 13 0
Christopher Golden 12 12 0

No change to these two, who owe their totals mostly to Buffy and Angel tie-in novels.

Greg Rucka 12 11 1
Stephen King 10 9 1

Both of these long time favorites increased their total by one book.  Rucka’s newest is due out next summer and is already pre-ordered.

Michael Jan Friedman 8 8 0
Brad Meltzer 8 7 1

Brad Meltzer pulls into a tie for the top 5 with another author of tie-in novels, mostly Star Trek: TNG and Lois & Clark. Continue reading →

by jim

The Year In Books

With the year coming to an end, it is time to take a look back at the books I’ve read this year, 24 in total and 18 if you exclude the graphic novels.  Of those 24, 6 were graphic novels, another 6 were non-fiction, and 3 were TV show tie-ins.  Overall, I did a good job of clearing out the “to-read” drawer, as 9 of the 18 books came from there.

The 8 authors that I read for the first this year were:
Eliot Asinof
Hugh Delehanty
James Patterson
Len Berman
Marcos Breton
Phil Jackson
Ray Bradbury
Sammy Sosa

Amber Benson, Brian K. Vaughan, and Pia Guerra were the only authors I read multiple times in 2012.

Greg Rucka’s Alpha and Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl were the only books released in 2012 that I read in 2012.

I revisited the work of 5 authors that I had not read since the previous century:
Stephen King 1993
John Grisham 1996
Scott Adams 1997
Ketih R.A. DeCandido 1999
Mel Odom 1999

Finally, the breakdown by month.  Being off for most of December certainly helped pad the total a tad bit. Continue reading →