Some of the books I have read in the last few months:

I read fast and have read quite a few books since I decided to actually write short stories. Stephen King (and most other authors, I'd guess) says to be a good writer, you have to read a lot. Here's a list of the books I have read lately with a short review:

Cell, Stephen King. Good story, interesting idea and the ending actually fit into the story. I enjoyed it.

Under the Dome, Stephen King. Very cool story with almost a typical Stephen King ending, tacked on regardless if it makes sense. The dialogue on this one felt weird to me, supposedly the book is set in the near future but the dialogue felt like it was straight out of the 70's. But, it's Stephen King and he does write good stories.

World War Z, Max Brooks. Excellent reporting style story telling. If you are a fan of zombie apocalypes, I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir.

Patient Zero, Johnathan Mayberry. A different take on the zombie tale. Gung ho and full of action. In my opinion , more zombies and less guns would have been cool.

The Return Man, V M Zito. Very interesting take on the Zombie Apocalypse. I really wish the story had gone more into the actual why and how the world had turned out like it had but a good story overall. The only thing I didn't like was that it seemed like the Author had spent a lot of time researching a couple of items and spent too long detailing them. But, still a very good book with an interesting concept.

One Second After, William R Forstchen Wow. This book is amazingly good. If you are looking for an apocalyptic fictional book that almost seems completely true, read this book. It is chilling, blunt and extremely good. Trust me, it is very good.

War Day and The Journey Onward, by Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka. After a very good start, this book took a turn into the absurd and then settled into boredom. The beginning of the book was very interesting and I was hooked. The two writers in the book decided to take a trip across a nuclear bomb torn America. It was interesting until they were headed into a town and stopped outside in a  nearby settlement. The writers find out the settlement is a refuge for rebels but the writers need to continue on. The Rebels say one can leave and one of them has to stay as insurance that they won't be ratted out.

At this point, I was very interested and couldn't wait to see what happened. What happened? Well.....ummmm, nothing. The writer that was allowed to leave walked down the road until he was out of sight, waited until night time, walked back to the camp, woke up his partner and they left. No conflict, no gun fights, nothing.

I'm not sure why I kept reading, but I just know the book was going to get better. Sadly, it didn't. There were a few pages of interesting story, too bad they were buried under many more pages of 'government ' lists, full of boring numbers of infant mrotality, radiation levels, grain production. I was both very disappointed when I finished the book and also just as happy I was done slogging through the book.

Resurrection Day,  Brendan Ducois. Interesting world created and a good read. The secondary plot felt thin but still a very good book.

More books next post.