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Long time no journal usage! Anyway, Aloy is gimpy at the moment - I hurt my back due to lots of stress and whatnot at work, so I've got all together too much free time on my hands at the moment. So I figure I'll start keeping a list of the fun stuff I've been reading!

Anne Perry "The Sheen On the Silk" - historical fiction, set in the 1200's in Constantinople. Very good read, though there was a very small amount of suspension of disbelieve required, as the main character seems unusually adept at getting rather...interesting information out of people without much effort. Despite that small flaw, it was very engaging, and a fleshy read that should provide some quality book time (meaning: it took me more than a day to chew through xD ). 7.5/10

Annabelle Gurwitch "Fired! Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized, & Dismissed" - I expected so much more out of this book than I got. The entire book is divided up into individual stories that far from being interesting, more often inspire feelings of "Wow, I don't feel bad for you in the slightest. Here, let me tell you about some REAL crazy s**t!" There is very little for your average working slob to empathize with in this book, as most of the stories seem to center around high-end business professionals and in particular, stand-up comedians and their adventures trying to make it. Especially if you're not familiar with the mentality of actors or comedians, there is very little of interest, save for a few stories of trials in the food service industry, and occasionally interesting (but more often infuriating) little factoids found at the end of most of the stories. There are a few celebrity contributors if you're interested in that sort of thing, but otherwise, don't waste your time. The "letter you wish you could send to your boss" in the end might be worth a photocopy, though. 3/10

Douglas Preston "The Codex": Another excellent read, particularly if you're into treasure hunting, the pitfalls of tramping around in Central America, and of course, thrillers. My favorite standalone book of his yet! 8/10*

Lincoln Child "Death Match": Yummm. Yet another tasty intellectual thriller, though a bit depressing if you're still looking for that special someone. xD 7.5/10*

* Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child have written some standalone and the epic Pendergast series together (with another series starting soon!), and I am of the firm belief that while their separate books are definitely far better than most of the stuff out there, they definitely are at their best together. 3nodding

Charlaine Harris "Grave Sight": I ate through her Sookie Stackhouse series in about a week, and this one is the first in her other series. It does have some laughs and more Southern flavor to it, but so far I'm not near as struck. It's one of those books that's not a bad read if you have a dull Sunday ahead and it's a grey, rainy day. 6.8/10

Justin Cronin "The Passage": This was...different. I'm really struggling to say anything about the plot without spoiling it, so let me just go for something cryptic and say it was like a cross between "I am Legend" and "The Giver". Yea. Other than that, it's over 800 pages, and it does have some draggy points, I felt it could have used some gentle TLC from an editor. Not bad, though. 6/10

Kelly Armstrong "Waking the Witch": Another tasty read from her, though this one focused on a minor character I'm just not interested in. A bit bland, more than a bit cliched, and the ended promoted an epic eyeroll. Love the rest of her books though, they're required reading if you're into the urban fantasy genre. 6.7/10

Tom Knox "Marks of Cain": EPIC. Feels much less dry and much more accessible than Dan Brown's work, and it's along the same lines, with more of a thriller slant. Left me with plenty of bookmarks in it of interesting historical tidbits to go look up. I immediately went and reserved a copy of his only other book, which I can't wait to get my grubby little fingers on. 9/10