Friday Finds: December 18, 2009

Friday Finds (hosted by Should Be Reading)

What great books did you hear about/discover this past week?

Share with us your FRIDAY FINDS!

Well, here we are again after a bit of a hiatus from Friday Finds with a whole new batch that I’ve been saving up.

First up is B is for Bad Poetry which is just hilarious and is a must for any poetry-phile (did I just coin a new word?) and falls under the category of it’s so bad it’s good. The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein is, as is the case with a number of the books in this week’s Finds, one that I just happened across as I was browsing the shelves of my local bookstore. The title intrigued me, the synopsis sounded interesting and the author’s name rung a bell (I later remembered that I had already read and reviewed one of his books on this blog: his brief biography of Edgar Allan Poe). Cryptid is one I found while looking for information on The Flock (my current read, and another of this week’s Finds), and it sounded interesting, like The Terror, but not as good.

Devil’s Trill is another shelf browse, and after reading The Terror I wanted to find more Dan Simmons novels, and Drood looked fascinating. The Flock is the book I’m currently reading and came about because my four-year-old son as grown interested in prehistoric animals (post-dinosaur) and on a BBC special we were watching they showcased Terror Birds. Looking up information and pictures on Titanis walleri for my son, I came across Smith’s The Flock, my local library had a copy, and the rest is history.

That brings us to what is possible The. Best. Book. I have EVER posted on this blog: It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Zombies. This is the single most funny book I have ever seen. With “new” carols such as “Deck the Halls with Parts of Wally,” “I Saw Mommy Chewing Santa Claus,” “We Three Spleens” and “Zombie, the Reindeer” how can this not become an instant Christmas Classic? (Check it out HERE.)

Finally, Poseidon’s Steed, The White Cascade and The Wilderness Warrior are all shelf browses, and all books that look absolutely fascinating. How can you not want to know more about the history of the seahorse (did you even know it was an issue?) and I always love reading about Teddy Roosevelt. The man is simply amazing, and The White Cascade occurred here in Washington State, and I always love reading about the history of my home.

So, with that, here are this week’s Friday Finds:

B is for Bad Poetry by Pamela Angela Russell
The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein by Peter Ackroyd
Cryptid: The Lost Legacy of Lewis & Clark by Eric Penz
Devil’s Trill by Gerald Elias
Drood by Dan Simmons
The Flock by James Robert Smith
It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Zombies: A Book of Zombie Christmas Carols by Michael P. Spradlin
Poseidon’s Steed: The Story of Seahorses, from Myth to Reality by Helen Scales, Ph.D.
The White Cascade: The Great Northern Railway Disaster and America’s Deadliest Avalanche by Gary Krist

The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America by Douglas Brinkley