City Of Thieves

As far as my reading goes it tends to be a mixed bag of things. I read a fair amount of David Baldacci and Michael Connelly, writers more known for their ability to tell a story than their skill as writers. I also read guys like Richard Russo, who I think at times lack the story telling ability, but makes up for it in their ability to write. The exception for Russo is Straight Man which is one of my favorite books. Of course I also read a fair amount of trash, zombie and end-of-the-world type books. Hey, somebody has to be ready now that we are all about to be overrun by Swine Flu regardless of what some random blogger might be preaching!

David Benioff's City Of Thieves is one of those rare finds that manages to be a good story told by a writer that really knows his craft. It is the story of two unlikely characters thrown together during the Nazis' siege of Leningrad sent on an unlikely mission to find a dozen eggs for a wedding. The story is based on his grandfather's experiences during the seige and should be on your reading list or you suck as a human being.

Because You Really Want To Know

I'm still waiting for this to show up from Amazon. Love the opening line.

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains."

Project Gutenberg

I'm just not sold that ebooks are going to change the publishing industry like mp3s changed the music industry. A number of people smarter than me disagree.

A survey published in conjunction with the Frankfurt Book Fair last month showed
that 40 percent of book publishing professionals thought digital sales would
surpass sales of paper-and-ink books by 2018.

There is no doubt that the digital world has dealt a financial blow to the print world. I certainly spend more time reading the online versions of magazines and newspapers over the dead tree versions. I just don't see the reshaping of how the industry is forced to do business, especially when one of the leading platforms for ebooks (Kindle) is $359.

I will say that Project Gutenberg is a pretty cool site.