skjam

I don't always get around to saying things that other people think are important to know.

So, this post is for you to ask a question. I'll answer truthfully, but I won't guarantee helpfully or completely.

So, my first quarter at Rasmussen College online has ended. The most exciting news is that I scored 96% in Accounting I, which I think is freaking amazing considering how hard math is for me. We'll see if I can weather Accounting II: Account Harder next quarter.

Overall, the experience has been very positive. Rasmussen has really put an effort into accommodating distance student's special needs. Once I learned how to access the live lectures properly, they were a great tool for getting a better understanding of the reading and communicating with a teacher.

Next quarter is, besides more accounting, Business Law, Principles of Marketing, and Principles of Management. My brother the law professor says that the important thing to remember about business law is that the introductory course only teaches basic, national level law. State and local laws do apply, and you will need to learn those separately. (So no, as an entrepreneur I shouldn't try to be my own attorney.)

Still looking for work, by the way, if anyone hears of a good opening for a customer service professional in the Twin Cities area, please keep me in mind.

Hi folks! Time for another go-round of what Goodreads thinks I might like. This time, it's based on the horror books I've read. Horror is kind of a tricky genre--Often it slides off into ludicrous or just icky.

I've read at least some of these, or a srory or two from the anthologies. Just don't remember enough to rank them. As always, if you've read one of these or heard buzz, let me know in the comments.

An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce

The Beetle by Richard Marsh
Blood+ 01 by Asuka Katsura
Blood and Smoke by Stephen King
Books of Blood, Vol. 1 by Clive Barker

Carnacki, the Ghost Finder by William Hope Hodgson
Child of Fire by Harry Connolly
Cold Hand in Mine by Robert Aickman

Descendants of Darkness, Volume 1 by Yoko Matsushita
Dragon Head, Volume 1 by Minetaro Mochizuki

Elfen Lied, V. 1 by Lynn Okamoto
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

Ghost Stories of an Antiquary by M.R. James
Godchild, #1 by Kaori Yuki
Goth by Otsuichi
Gothic Tales by Elizabeth Gaskell

Hard Spell by Justin Gustainis
Hellblazer: Dangerous Habits by Garth Ennis
Hellblazer: Original Sins by Jamie Delano
Hellboy, Vol. 1: Seed of Destruction by Mike Mignola
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree, Jr.
Hideyuki Kikuchi's Vampire Hunter D, Volume 01 by Saiko Takaki
Higurashi When They Cry: Abducted by Demons Arc, Vol. 1 by Ryukishio7

In a Glass Darkly by Joseph Sheridan le Fanu
The Italian by Ann Radcliffe

The King in Yellow and Other Horror Stories by Robert W. Chambers

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Bo Hampton
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories by Washington Irving
The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson
Lucifer, Vol. 1: Devil in the Gateway by Mike Carey

The Man with the Golden Torc by Simon R. Green
Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Maturin
The Minister's Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Monk by Matthew Gregory Lewis

Nightmare at 20.000 Feet: Horror Stories by Richard Matheson by Richard Matheson
Nightmates in the Sky: Gargoyles and Grotesques by f-stop Fitzgerald

The Penguin Book of Vampire Stories by Alan Ryan
Perrault's Fairy Tales by Charles Perrault
The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg

The Rats in the Walls by H.P. Lovecraft
Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin

The Stand: Captain Trips by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
The Stephen King Companion by George Beahm
The Stephen King Universe: The Guide to the Worlds of the King of Horror by Stanley Wiater

Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edgar Allan Poe
The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories by H.P. Lovecraft
The Turn of the Screw and the Aspern Papers by Henry James

The Vampyre and Other Tales of the Macabre by John William Polidori
The Vampyre: A Tale by John William Polidori

The Willows by Algernon Blackwood

Your thoughts?

This time I'll be listing the books Goodreads recommends from my history shelf. On this shelf I have actual history books, biographies of historical figures and fiction about history. There will be a fair number of long-titled books.

( Covering all of time from the Big Bang to yesterday )

Tends towards the bloody side of history, don't it?

As always, if you've read any of these, or heard some buzz, or have a book on the subject you'd recommend instead, go ahead and comment.

Don't forget I have a review blog at http://www.skjam.com

Incidentally, the book I'm going to be concentrating on next is on the history of Ferry Farm, George Washington's childhood home.

It's time for another look at what Goodreads suggests to me, based on what I've already read and reviewed.

This time, the shelf theme is "firstreads", books put up for giveaways to readers in the hopes of getting reviews. I've gotten a bunch of these by now, and reviewed every one. But since the process results in my getting semi-random books, the recommendations are likewise kind of off the wall. Also, you'll see a lot more of overly long titles in this one.

The Adventures of Roderick Random by Tobias Smollett
After the Fact: The Surprising Fates of American History's Heroes, Villains and Supporting Characters by Owen J. Hurd
Amelia by Henry Fielding

Bayou Myth by Mary Ann Loesch
Between Summer's Longing and Winter's End: The Story of a Crime by Leif G.W. Persson
Body Movers by Stephanie Bond
Botanicaust by Tam Linsey
Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family by Thomas Mann
Burned by Thomas Enger

Call of the Mall: The Geography of Shopping by Paco Underhill
A Carrion Death by Michael Stanley
Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture by Ellen Ruppel Shell
China Trade by S.J. Rozan
City of the Century: The Epic of Chicago and the Making of America by Donald L. Miller
The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill

Darwin's Ghosts: The Secret History of Evolution by Rebecca Stott
Death Angels by Ake Edwardson
Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong
Detective Inspector Huss by Helene Tursten
Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd by Youngme Moon

Echoes from the Dead by by Johan Theorin
Ecological Intelligence: How Knowing the Hidden Impacts of What We Buy Can Change Everything by Daniel Goleman
Eisenhower in War and Peace by Jean Edward Smith

For the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb, and the Murder that Shocked Chicago by Simon Baatz

Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage: The Titanic's First-Class Passengers and Their World by Hugh Brewster
The Great A&P and the Struggle for Small Business in America by Marc Levinson

The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg
Island of Vice: Theodore Roosevelt's Doomed Quest to Clean Up Sin-loving New York by Richard Zacks

Last Days by Adam Nevill
Liberty's Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World by Maya Jasanoff

The Marriage Bureau for Rich People by Farahad Zama
Mind's Eye by Hakan Nesser
A Most Peculiar Malaysian Mystery by Shamini Flint

The Nun by Denis Diderot

The Price of Everything: Solving the Mystery of Why We Pay What We Do by Eduardo Porter

The Resurrectionist: The Lost Work of Dr. Spencer Black by E.B. Hudspeth

Season of the Witch: Enchantment, Terror and Deliverance in the City of Love by David Talbot
Seven-X by Mike Wech
Shakespeare Undead by OLori Handeland
Silver Smoke by Monica Leonelle
Snow Angels by James Thompson
The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz
Studio Sex by Liza Marklund

Tinderbox: How the West Sparked the AIDS Epidemic and How the World Can Finally Overcome It by Craig Timberg

Who Is Audrey Wickersham? by Sara Shrieves
Wife of the Gods by Kwei Quartey

There's been some new posts on my blog since I last plugged it here.

http://www.skjam.com/2013/02/03/tv-review-bonanza/ is the most recent, but you're free and welcome to make comments on any entry.

Please. I am so tired of seeing "ten new comments!" and it's all spammers.

In other news, college continues to be rough.

Continuing my look at what the Goodreads site recommends to me based on books I've previously read. This time, we look at my fantasy shelf. You'll notice a lot of overlap with my children's shelf--not surprisingly given most of the children's books I've rated were also fantasy.

As always, some of these I've read before but don't remember well enough to rate them yet.

( From the worlds beyond those we know )

The Wheel of Time books didn't show up as I have finally placed them on the "to read" list.

So, your thoughts and comments on any of these?
SKJAM!

Continuing my series of posts about what Goodreads recommends to me based on my shelves, today we look at children's books that the website recommends.

As before, some of these are ones I'm fairly certain I've read before, but it's been so long that I've forgotten if they're any good or would stand up to my current interst.

( long list )

A fair bit of redundancy in there.

Your thoughts and comments?

If I Were You by L. Ron Hubbard

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Before L. Ron Hubbard got involved in...you know, he was a middling-good and prolific pulp author. The Golden Age Stories line is reprinting many of his stories in attractively designed paperbacks. This volume contains two short stories, , a preview of another, a glossary (really needed this time because of heavy circus slang) and a hagiography of Hubbard that does not mention...you know by name, just calling it "serious research." Hee. It's double-spaced in a largish typeface for easy reading.

The title story concerns a little person, "Little" Tom Little, who works as a circus midget, and then discovers a mystical method for bodyswapping with other people. He promptly decides to use this to swap with the tall, imposing ringmaster Hermann Schmidt. But Schmidt has troubles of his own, which could get Tom killed regardless of which body he's in!

There's a nice bit of foreshadowing early in the story, with what seems like random cruelty to Tom, but is actually a hint of what Schmidt's issues are. The lion phobia, on the other hand, was a bit too telegraphed. The payoff to that is a very exciting scene, mitigating the obviousness. There's a nice bit of ambiguity, too, in the motives of the Professor, who leaves Tom his books of magic.

The second story, "The Last Drop" is co-authored by the much better L. Sprague de Camp. A bartender foolishly creates a cocktail with some untested syrup from Borneo; growth and shrinking hijinks ensue. A fun story that at least waves at scientific plausibility as it goes by, in the form of the square-cube law. (The glossary explains it for the benefit of anyone who might have forgotten.)

While it's a handsome package, and the stories are fun, the book is thin on content for the price. I'd recommend looking for used copies at a steep discount, or checking it out from the library.



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Blood Lance: A Medieval Noir by Jeri Westerson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Disclosure: I received this book through a Goodreads giveaway on the premise that I would review it. Also, I read an Advanced Reading Copy, and there may be small changes between it and the final product.

This is the fifth Crispin Guest novel, featuring a disgraced knight of the Fourteenth Century who takes up a career of detection, earning the nickname "Tracker." I have not read the previous volumes.

Guest happens to witness a man falling from a bridge into the Thames. By the time he reaches the man, the fallen person is already dead--and he didn't drown. The dead man was an armourer, who it would appear owned a piece of the Lance of Longinius, a relic that supposedly pierced the side of Jesus Christ, and grants victory in battle. The lance has since gone missing, and multiple parties are working at crosspurposes to find it. Two of these are old friends of Crispin's, but are they his friends now?

All this is set against political maneuverings in the English court, as soon-to-be adult King Richard's favorite is losing his grip on power. The climax of the novel is an exciting trial by combat, with the actual solution of the mystery for a coda.

The noir elements are quite obvious; the morally ambiguous but still upright protagonist, everyone having secrets and many of those unpleasant, miserable weather and darkness (at least at the beginning, authorities who can't be trusted and the detective's falling for a woman too close to the case.

ONe tricky element of the story is the Spear. This is, apparently, not the first time Crispin Guest has come into contact with a supposed holy object. And while it's left ambiguous whether or not the Spear actually has any powers, (Guest himself is a skeptic) the coincidences keep piling up. Towards the end, at least one character believes that these are not coincidences, and that artifacts seek out Crispin for a purpose as yet unknown.

It's a good read by itself, and I would certainly be willing to look up other volumes in the series.



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