Book Recommendations and Other Things

I'm headed out soon for a day of family and fun, but before I went, I wanted to put up something on the blog to keep you all busy. So here's some of the books I've been reading and enjoying recently! Feel free to add your own recommendations in the comments.

Andrew Mayne's The Naturalist

Picked it up on a whim, because hey! bioinformatics and serial killers, it's right up my alley. Surprisingly well-written from an author I'd never heard of before but who seems to have a good amount of other books I'll now check out. The science is convincingly done, and I recognize the premise of the computer program spotting a serial killer as drawn from reality (that's a fascinating and frustrating case, too...). The main character is a bit whiny, and I really wanted to slap him a few times, and the ending is disappointing. But it's still worth reading, overall the book is strong enough to carry the weak spots.

LA Behm III's Hero's Lament

Ok, my husband inspired this story - and the main character is named for him - so it was a must-buy. But really, it's so much fun! Snarky, sardonic, and a great take on high fantasy, it's a short story you don't want to miss.

The First Reader and I have both been re-reading Dorothy Sayers. She's a classic author for good reason. British mystery with a masterful command of storytelling and characterization. If you haven't read her yet you have a treat in store - if you have, then like me I suspect you'll find you want to revisit her best stories over and over as the years pass. Some of the ebooks are on sale, so I'm slowly replacing my paperbacks that are falling apart.

The First Reader wanted to recommend Conan the Barbarian (you can pick up the complete collection for a buck, which is nice even though you can get the individial titles free) not so much for the stories, but the vividness of the descriptions.

The Little Man recommends Savvy, by Ingrid Law. Even though it's fantasy he likes it because it actually shows real human feelings. "Normally in fantasy books you have sad feelings, and all these stuff that doesn't really show human. It actually showed good human feelings." The Ginja Ninja seconds this recommendation.

The Ginja Ninja says she hasn't had time to read fiction recently, with homework and everything. She's recommending a short youtube film, instead, Dirty Paws (she wanted to point out it's gay. But it's cute).

The Junior Mad Scientist recommends a super cute Webcomic about monsters (and the Ginja Ninja enthusiastically seconds it!).