Books: By Rating

A short, fun read with a simple plot and one-dimensional characters, but that should go without saying for just... more

This massive book has been sitting on my shelf taunting me for twenty-plus years. Ages ago it was recommended... more

The ending was spoiled for me, but a clever twist indeed.

Pretty good mystery.

This massive coffee table book seems like it would be a lot cooler than it is. Despite its size,... more

Virginia Postrel is a great, thoughtful writer and, although I am not terribly interested in the topic of glamour,... more

A tale of dueling magicians who go through ever more elaborate lengths to uncover each other’s secrets. It’s all... more

Mamet’s political coming out book doesn’t offer much new insight into conservatism. Instead it cribs a lot from Thomas... more

Loses steam about 150 pages into the book.

This is the story of an American GI who returns to Sicily years after the war to find the... more

A short, quick read that goes by even faster because of the blunt writing (or blunt translation as the... more

Does look and feel matter? That’s one of the questions posed in this book about the ever increasing emphasis... more

A hu-hum offering in the series. I accidently skipped a book… didn’t seem to matter.

This is the first book I’ve read that was written by a saint. It’s the description of an ideal... more

Young adult fiction about giant three legged machines that transform children into mindless teenagers when they turn thirteen. So... more

The title of this book would suggest that it is purely about having a hopeful outlook about world events.... more

This was a fairly by-the-numbers fantasy story with the usual characters: a wizard, a prince, a dwarf, a thief... more

A fairly good sci-fi novel about a pair of telepathic twins separated when one goes off to survey new... more

A memoir of what living in The Soviet Union was like in the 60s and 70s. Bukovsky spent most... more

After seeing Jess Franco’s movie of the same name, I noticed that this ebook was available for free at... more

The subtitle of the book is “Anagram Record Reviews” and that pretty much sums it up. Take a record... more

That title is quite a mouthful, ain’t it? I am continuing my recent excursion into econ-type books that are... more

After the first three rousing volumes of the Song of Fire and Ice series, this book is a huge disappointment. I... more

The title of this one is a bit deceptive. The book is actually a history of British wood engraving. It starts... more

The premise here is that the outsiders and the misfits, by rejecting puritanism and pushing the limits of what is... more

I was disappointed when I came to the realization that this was more of a collection of short stories... more

The was a companion book to the The Tower and the Tree series which at the moment (I’m about... more

Not bad, but I was expecting a more basic econ textbook rather than, what more often than not, feels... more

I never wrote a review for this one.

More of a character study of a completely unappealing character than a plot-driven novel. Not my thing.

The Expanse keeps expansing! The story takes a break from galactic politics and focuses on the first group of... more

A disappointing follow-up to the last Hornblower novel. This one has Hornblower in Russia helping out during the siege... more

This was a fawning look at Coolidge’s life and tenure as the 30th President. It was okay up to a... more

Looks like The Expanse TV show will not be returning so now I have to read a dozen novels... more

Weakest of the first 3 Aubry Maturin books.

Norton is usually a very entertaining guest on whatever chat show on which he appears. However, I’ve watched his... more

Along with Barefoot Aivnesi this is backstory for the Tower and Tree fantasy novels. I’m not quite invested enough... more

Quite frankly I was bored by this litany of Scottish people and their ancestors and all their accomplishments. I... more

Short overview of the basics of classical liberalism with nary a reference to praxeology.

The ridiculous plot of this pulp trash novel is as follows: disgraced big city reporter winds up in small... more

Mildly amusing tale of a guy who choses to recreate memories down to exacting detail. Reminded me of how... more

I went into this book knowing nothing of the many Mrs. Peregrine books/movies/after-dinner mints. Unless Shirley Temple is the main character,... more

A collection of essays about anarchism from 1800s to the present. The older essays were quite tedious and repetitive.... more

Once again, I am off in search of fantasy books to match the greatness of the A Song of Fire... more

This book analyzes America’s proclivity towards an ever expansive and powerful executive branch—admittedly not the most exciting read. As... more

Amazon recently gave this ebook away for free as a promotion for the sequel Inferno. It was my beach read... more

I primarily have this book because I am interested in the spectacular Gustave Doré wood engravings. The text is... more

Well, it’s no Crime and Punishment. The plot revolves mostly around relationships and character interactions within the rules of... more

For whatever reason this Philip Marlowe novel did not click with me. I had long stretches where I put... more

This is essentially a Death Wish style vigilante story about a cop who really, really doesn’t like the drug trade. There is absolutely... more

Interesting with a nice ending, but lacks any real plot complications to hook me in.

Catching up on a classic I missed in high school. I thought it was okay, but not the sort... more

A pretty straightforward detective mystery which, despite the cover of the book, has very little to do with baseball.... more

I listened to the audiobook version which features many of the original cast members reprising their roles. The book... more

Well, this isn’t the next Kingkiller book, but, fortunately, I wasn’t expecting that. The author himself goes to great... more

I gave it a 6 and I don’t remember why.

Sorry, no review.

A mostly Poirot-free Poirot novel. It was okay, I guess, but pretty forgettable. What was I talking about?

Libertarian disaster porn that moves along nicely until the actual disaster hits (figuratively) about two-thirds into the book. At... more

Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m one of those nuts who actually likes The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. It has been years since... more

A fairly blah read from Vixen Press. This one is pretty short on plot and lacks the hardboiled edge... more

Having read her other books, I felt obliged to read this novella. It’s a fairly literal take on individualism... more

The story sets the puzzle up in an interesting way. Eight guests are invited to a dinner party. Four... more

What a mouthful of a title. Anyhow, this book is a case against post-modernism and its application within the... more

This autobiography was pretty uninformative. Reads more like a compilation of unrelated essays about with a little bit of... more

I read this mostly because I am an admirer of Apocalypse Now. It sorta lost me by the end so... more

Mildly amusing but poorly written memoir.

I started reading this thinking it would cover the techniques and materials of the Renaissance masters. Apparently, that’s another... more

Some interesting magic history, a few neat tricks and lots of David Blaine’s self-hating magic style-endurance artist crap.

Another old sci-fi novel by Heinlein that cares more about the concept than the story. Even at 120 some... more

Rather boring and pointless.

This is a strange old book. It’s a Nancy Drew style mystery but the main character is a teen-aged Shirley... more

A murder mystery on a sparsely populated planet where each person lives isolated from everyone else and all the... more

This short novel tries to show how it was possible for normal German’s to just sit back and let... more

This book started off okay enough and was pretty interesting for the first hundred pages or so. The premise... more

This is a memoir of life aboard a merchant vessel in the early 1800’s. It is also noteworthy as... more

Martin Gardner died around the time this book was released. Like many of his books, it compiles articles and... more

Apparently everything is going to kill us. There are a handful of insights among the doom and gloom, but mostly... more

This is a collection of the Aliens comics that were released by Dark Horse in the late eighties. These came out... more

I generally like the various Ben Shapiro “Destroys” videos I come across on the webs. He is an excellent... more

Mid-century sci-fi novel about a planetary colony that goes dark. When the rescue mission arrives they find the colonists... more

I was bored silly by this classic sci-fi book. I wanted to like it. It’s voted as the greatest... more

Even as an audio book, this was a chore to get through. It’s a tale of a future with... more

I loved I, Claudius but was utterly bored by this. Maybe I would have appreciated more if I had... more

I got this as an audiobook, hoping to get a decent overview of what Marxism is without having to... more

This book is a collection of anecdotal tales of various people from the olden days being visited by spirits.... more

The first third is intriguing then it just jumps ship.

I bought this on a whim when I saw the price dropped to $20. Kudos for the completeness and,... more

I agreed with many of his main points on stereotyping, democracy, propaganda, and the inability for a potential voter... more

Why do I do this to myself? I am always disappointed with classic science fiction. This stuff is so... more

This one is a collection of art criticism essays from the early 70s. They mostly grapple with the perceived... more

Starts out pretty good, but decends into the idiotic by the end.

A dystopian novel that predates Orwell’s 1984 by a decade or two and was banned in Russia until the... more

Yeah that’s right, a novelization of Zardoz. It’s just as inexplicable as the movie.

So far, this is my least favorite book in this series. Astrology is just not a very interesting topic... more

Starts out with some amusing short stories but never amounts to much. The main plot line is barely existent... more

I got this book as an advance copy and was really wanting to like it so I could say... more

I don’t think I really like science fiction. Sure there have been a few stories I liked, Dune, The Ender... more

This sci-fi classic starts off interestingly enough: in an authoritarian society on the Moon, an engineer befriends a self-aware... more