Sean's Reading Journal

Wingshooters.net - Sean's Reading Journal

Year: Author: Title:

Sean's Reading Log for 2005 - 37 book(s) found

A Salty Piece of Land	Jimmy Buffett		Not Started
The return of Tully Mars

Jenny Willow	Harold Sheldon		Not Started
Destined to be a hunting classic

The Lost Classics of Jack O'Connor	Jack O'Connor		Not Started
A new book in the series from Sporting Classics magazine

Tranquility	Harold Sheldon		In Progress
A sporting classic

White	Ted Dekker		October 20th, 2005
The conclusion of Dekker's Circle trilogy. I'd probably rate this book as the best of the three in the series. Having finished the trilogy, I'll keep it on my shelf to reread once in awhile, but am hoping that Dekker's other books are better.

Red	Ted Dekker		October 18th, 2005
The second book in Dekker's Circle trilogy, this one find the world on the brink of death from a supervirus. Thomas Hunter is racing to find a cure in one world and fighting for the survival of a great religion in another. Interesting and worth reading.

Black	Ted Dekker		October 10th, 2005
I heard about Christian author Ted Dekker through a fellow in my church men's group, so I decided to give his stuff a try. Black is the first book in a trilogy, and deals with a man named Tom Hunter who switches back and forth between realities. Every time he goes to sleep in one, he wakes up in the other. He's trying to prevent a massive incidence of global biological terrorism. While an interesting story, it was weak in many ways. I'll continue on and finish the trilogy, but am hoping that some of Dekker's other stuff will be better.

I Remember Papa Bear	Dick Lattimer		October 3rd, 2005
A look back at the world famous archer's life. If you're a bowhunter, then this is the book for you. It's not a biography of Fred Bear; instead, it's more of a history of Bear Archery and of the company's involvement in bow hunting. Well worth reading.

The Twelfth Card	Jeffery Deaver		September 23rd, 2005
I had to wait several months before this book became available at my local library, but once I got my copy, it was worth the wait. I've been hooked on the Lincoln Rhyme series ever since I read the first one earlier this year. The one disappointment that I had is that the books are following too closely in the path set by the earlier installments in this series. For example, any time a strange black character shows up, I can now guess that it is FBI agent Fred Dellray. And whenever things seem solved, I now know that suddenly everything is going to turn completely around and things will be the opposite of what they seemed. It's time for Deaver to follow a different mold with the books in this series. Having said that, this was still a highly entertaining book.

The Codex	Douglas Preston		September 19th, 2005
While I found this book to be quite entertaining, there were a few things that bothered me. The main thing was that the main characters would often find themselves in a position where they must kill their enemy. They never take the fatal shot, and always end up being saved by external circumstances. I found this to be highly unrealistic. If you're being pursued to the death in a jungle and find yourself with an open shot at those persuing you, you take the shot. Beyond that, the book was great.

Tyrannosaur Canyon	Douglas Preston		September 6th, 2005
Been a big fan of Doug Preston & Lincoln Child's joint efforts, I couldn't resist giving Preston's solo effort a try. It's a highly entertaining book in which several people are racing to find a fossil of a Tyrannosaurus Rex that contains a deadly secret. Although I read many negative reviews of this book on Amazon, I myself found it to be well worth my time.

The Loch	Steve Alten		August 12th, 2005
Well, I've already read a book about Bigfoot earlier this year (Peretti's Monster), so I figured I might as well follow it up with one about the Loch Ness Monster. Combining all of the latest research into the identity of the creature with a great story, Alten has written a winner. Although I greatly enjoyed this one, I could see many similarities in plot structure to his first Meg book. Other than that, well worth it the read.

The Collected Short Stories of Louis L'Amour Volume II	Louis L'Amour		July 22nd, 2005
The second volume of L'amour's short stories was just as good if not better than the first. This volume contains all of the stories about Texas Ranger Chick Bowdrie, as well as many others. I'm looking forward to the next volume!

The Collected Short Stories of Louis L'Amour Volume I	Louis L'Amour		July 5th, 2005
A great book of short stories from the master of the Western, I had forgotten how much I enjoy L'amour's stories. They're in the process of releasing several volumes the will end up comprising all of his short stories.

Dance of Death	Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child		June 22nd, 2005
Picking up shortly after Brimstone left off, FBI Agent Pendergast is on the trail of his psychotic brother, who has promised to complete a major crime by a certain date. The ending lets us know that there is more to come in this series, and I'll be looking forward to the next book.

Domain	Steve Alten		June 19th, 2005
I was looking for Alten's book The Loch in the library when I ran across this one instead. In this story, Alten deals with the mystery of the Mayan calender, which dates the destruction of man to December 21, 2012. It made for a decent story, and it turns out that this is the first book in a trilogy about this mystery, so I imagine that I'll go ahead and read the next two books in the series.

State of Fear	Michael Crichton		June 12th, 2005
A fascinating look at global warming, in this book Crichton wraps real information around a fictional store of environmental terrorism. Like Crichton, I don't believe that global warming is much of a reality, and what IS there is simply a normal cycle of our planet.

Meg: Primal Waters	Steve Alten		June 5th, 2005
The last book in the Meg series (so far, anyway), this one wasn't quite as good as the previous ones. Jonas and family are bankrupt, and in an effort to make some quick money Jonas joins the cast of a reality TV show which takes him out to the open sea where the Megalodons lurk. Once again he has to battle these monster sharks.

The Vanished Man	Jeffery Deaver		May 31st, 2005
In this next book in the Lincoln Rhyme series, Rhyme and Sachs are after a murderer who uses magic tricks and illusions as part of his killings. An exciting book, but I'm catching on to how Deaver tells his stories and was able to guess what was going to happen in this one. Stil, it was one of the best books in the series.

The Trench	Steve Alten		May 29th, 2005
The second book in Alten's series about the prehistoric Megaladons, this one finds his characters once again deep in the abyss where these massive sharks live. A good followup to the first book.

Dull Knife	C.J. Box		May 23rd, 2005
A new short story in C.J. Box's Joe Pickett series, this one finds the game warden investigating the death of a local high school basketball star. If you can find a copy of this story, buy it as quickly as you can. Only a couple hundred copies were printed, and this could be quite valuable someday.

The Stone Monkey	Jeffery Deaver		May 20th, 2005
Another book in Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme series, this one dealt with a human smuggler tracking down and killing a group of illegal Chinese immigrants. My main problem with this book was Deaver's seeming acceptance of illegal immigration - something that I'm strongly opposed to. Beyond that, it was a good story with the usual twists, but this time I was able to figure many of them out ahead of time. I think I'm finally catching on to how Deaver works.

Meg	Steve Alten		May 15th, 2005
I heard about this book when the author was interviewed on a radio show that I am a frequent listener of. In the deepest part of the ocean, a scientist has an encounter with a megalodon -- a 60 foot ancestor of the great white shark. The shark soon starts a killing spree that had me turning page after page to get to the end. Definately looking forward to the next two books in this series.

The Empty Chair	Jeffery Deaver		May 14th, 2005
Third in Deaver's Rhyme series, this time we find Lincoln in North Carolina where he hopes to undergo surgery that may help him function a little more normally. While there, he gets involved in the hunt for a murderer who has kidnapped two women and is heading toward the Outer Banks with them. While the NC geography has been altered significantly, I still enjoyed having a book in this series set in my home turf.

The Coffin Dancer	Jeffery Deaver		May 8th, 2005
Second book in the Lincoln Rhyme series, this time we find the wheelchair-bound criminalist on the hunt for a soldier of fortune who is killing witnesses to a major crime. A fitting entry in this series, I'm sure now that I'll keep reading these books!

De Shootinest Gent'man	Nash Buckingham		May 7th, 2005
A continuation of my quest to read the hunting classics that I missed over the years. I was a little disappointed in this book; it wasn't at all what I had hoped. The humor wasn't that good, the stories meandered and seemed to have little point, and I had a hard time getting into it. I may have to reread this one a few years from now and see if it's gotten any better with age.

The Bone Collector	Jeffery Deaver		May 1st, 2005
I love series novels. I prefer them to anything else, and am always happy when I find a new series that I like. This book deals with forensic scientists, or criminalists as they are known in the book. I was warned that the murder scenes in the book were quite gruesome, but I found this not to be the case. I've definately read more graphic murder stories in the past. This book was good enough that I've already gone to the library and checked out the next two in the series.

Monster	Frank Peretti		April 25th, 2005
At last, Frank Peretti writes another full length novel. While not as good as his Darkness books, I did find this one quite interesting. Peretti's story about Sasquatch is really a story of survival. While retaining Christian values, the book itself doesn't deal with Christianity as his previous ones do. It's a more mainstream novel whose main characters happen to be Christian. Can't wait for his next book.

The Ambassador's Son	Homer Hickam		April 24th, 2005
I've lost a little faith in Mr. Hickam. His Rocket Boys series contained some of the best books I've ever read. And I even liked The Keeper's Son, the first book in this new series. But I found this current book to be disjointed and dull. He promises more books in this series, and I guess I'll read the next one, but it it is no better, I'm stopping there.

The Broker	John Grisham		April 3rd, 2005
A good book, but not a memorable one. I think Grisham's truly good stuff is in the past.

Dead of Night	Randy Wayne White		March 28th, 2005
Doc Ford returns for the 12th book in the series. I was a bit hesitant going into this book. White had said on his website that this book "concludes the first part of the Doc Ford" series. He didn't clarify what he meant by that. The book in no way wraps up the saga, and I'm hoping for another dozen Doc Ford books in the future. While this book was quite good and fit in well with the rest of the series, I would not consider it one of the best books of the series. We don't learn a lot more about Ford's past, but some of the other ongoing storylines do progress a bit.

The Rising	Tim LaHaye & Jerry B. Jenkins		March 21st, 2005
A new book in the Left Behind series, this one is the first in a trilogy that deals with the lives of the main characters before the original series took place. The book was a bit more mature in some ways than the original series, although the writing was still pretty simplistic. The book deserves a 4 rating from me, but because of the simple writing I backed it down to a 3.

Forgotten Tales and Vanished Trails	Theodore Roosevelt and Jim Casada (ed.)		March 17th, 2005
Jim Casada sold me this collection of some of Roosevelt's lesser known works at a hunting show a few years back. The book has been on my "to-read" list for quite some time, and I'm really glad that I finally got around to reading it. It was great reading, and has put me in the mood to read more of Roosevelt's books.

Out Of Range	C.J. Box		February 27th, 2005
Ok, I cheated. I picked up an advance reading copy of the fifth book in the Joe Pickett series. I couldn't help myself; I enjoy the series so much that I had to know what happens next! Out of Range is a fitting successor to Trophy Hunt. Joe is on assignment in a new district while his wife is still in Saddlestring with the kids. Their marriage is in trouble, and someone is, as usual, trying to kill Joe.

A Sand County Almanac	Aldo Leopold		February 1st, 2005
Among Sportsmen, there are certain books that are considered required reading. Ruark's The Old Man and the Boy stands out as the most famous of these. However, every list of must-read sporting books will include this book by Aldo Leopold. Heralded as the finest book on conservation for the common man, the book spawned our modern conservation ethic. My most concise summary of the message of this book is this: value the land.

A Few Loose Chapters	Tom Kelly		January 28th, 2005
Once again, Tom Kelly has written a book full of wit, insight, and character. This time, he's not completely focused on turkey hunting, but his turkeys are always lurking somewhere just beyond the page. I still maintain that Kelly is one of the best outdoor writers we've got. Order this book online at this webpage.

Illumination in the Flatwoods	Joe Hutto		January 26th, 2005
Turkey hunters, you need to read this book. Hutto, a wildlife artist from Florida, spent over a year watching a hatch of turkeys grow from poult to maturity. After imprinting himself upon the newly hatched poults, he journeys with them day by day as they learn what it is to be a wild turkey. Hunters can learn a lot about turkey behavoir through this book.