Shelf Life

Mr. Doyle’s current reads:

Blackbringer

by Laini Taylor
Fairies, and Imps, and Devils– oh my! Not my usual choice for reading material but wow! This is a great fantasy read. It was an unsolicited donation from the publisher along with an advanced reader’s copy of the sequel,

Silksinger

(which I can’t wait to read). Both are part of the “Dreamdark” series. This one is tough to put down. It’s got Magpie, a spunky, half-wild, adolescent (she is only 100 years old) fairy as the protagonist. She is tracking and trapping devils that have been released from their prisons but bungling humans (”mannies”). But now a different type of evil has been released and it may mean the end of everything. Can she stop the Blackbringer before it destroys everyone and everything?

I am reading this science fiction epic on the kindle software on my new iPhone. Humans, the brash newcomers with a voracious appetite for new planets and resources, and the Ildirans, the older, stagnating race, are both threatened by a mysterious and merciless alien race that seems bent on destroying both peoples’ sources of ecti, the fuel that makes interstellar travel possible.

Previous Reads
Infected by Scott Sigler
This is my first e-book. I am reading it on my Blackberry Pearl smartphone. A mysterious parasitic organism is infecting random people in the upper Midwest turning average citizens into raving, homicidal maniacs. A tough-as-nails CIA agent and a low-level CDC doctor (who can’t stand each other) must find out what is causing the infections and stop them. So far it is a riveting story.

Ender in Exile by Orson Scott Card
WOO HOO! Another Ender book! Card has added another volume to what is, in my humble opinion, one of the greatest series of all time. This volume fills in the gap between Ender’s Shadow and Speaker for the Dead. After Ender saves the earth from the formics he is a hero. He is also a potential weapon for any country that can control him. And for some countries, if they can’t have him they will kill him. Even if he avoids death he can never avoid the noteriety that comes from saving the planet. His only hope of leading a long and close-to-normal life is to stay in space and head for one of the new colony worlds.

Carry Me Like Water by Benjamin Alire Saenz
After reading In Perfect Light i just had to pick up another Saenz novel. This one also is about adults dealing with demons from their past. I will write an AR quiz for it when I am done.

In Perfect Light by Benjamin Alire Saenz
This is actually an adult novel (a rare treat for me!). Saenz’s writing is beautiful. He is clearly a poet at heart. This is my SSR book and I am loving it. Just like his young adult novel, Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood, this story deals with damaged characters. And, of course, light figures large in the imagery and metaphors. A couple of quotes that jumped out at me:
“On certain days, the sun was in no mood for mercy.” Boy does that sound like summer in San Joaquin Valley.
“People could be totaled, just like cars.” That is a sobering but profound insight. Maybe the key to being a good teacher, therapist, or clergyman is to never recognize that.
“Why was it that memory was supposed to be something to be valued? Memory had been beating the crap out of him most of his life. He had the bruises to prove it.” This one really reveals the character Andres and how his personal demons haunt him.

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