After reading a couple of Dean Koontz's books, I was hooked. It all started during our required "leisure" reading time in high school. I randomly picked out Icebound from the book shelf. It was pretty interesting. Not the best book ever, but a change from what I was used to finding in classroom bookshelves. When I was done with is, I decided to pick up another book by the same author, Seize the Night. Wow. I loved that book. Unfortunately I did not get to finish it. I picked it up the last couple weeks of school, and managed to get to the last few chapters in the ten minutes or so I had daily. So what did I do? I went to my local Borders and bought it of course. I had to finish reading it. The story was great, it was like watching an action movie. At the same time, it had that sense of humor that I have tried to implement in my own works. Not that I have written any novels, but stored away in a certain box are a few short stories by Jose Medrano. Needless to say, it was the perfect book for my personal tastes. When I found out Seize the Night was actually a sequel to a previous book, Fear Nothing, I did not hesitate to go out and purchase that title as well. Unfortunately, it failed to fully meet the high expectations set by its sequel. Still, it was also a rewarding read.
Due to some events, I took a short break from reading. Actually, they had happened a while ago, but the effects were felt a few months later. Anyway. When I finally had the time, I was eager to read my next DK novel. I did some research and quickly found out that his current best seller was actually a sequel. Rather than let history repeat itself, I picked up the first book in the series. In case it wasn't all that great, I only had a hopefully better sequel to look forward to. Odd Thomas gave Seize the Night a run for its money as my favorite book. At this point I had notice a pattern. DK's storied tend to start a bit slow (but not boring) and quickly pick up the pace as you go on. By the time you're half way, it's almost impossible to put down. Ironically enough, this time Forever Odd was the slight disappointment. Just to be clear, neither "disappointment" was a result of a poorly written novel, but rather the result of such high expectations being set by predecessors. They were all great books which I enjoyed reading. It would only make sense to follow up Forever Odd with the third Odd book, Brother Odd. However, I prefer paperbacks. Their size makes it easier for me to carry around. Plus the $7.99 price tag sure beats that of their bulky counterparts. So I'm stuck waiting until October 29th, when the paperback edition of Brother Odd is out.
To please my hunger for another Dean Koontz thrill ride, I decided to pick up the recently release, the Husband. Well, the paperback that is. Again, wow. I'm on chapter 58 right now, and I don't know how I found the will to put it down in order to write this post. I was originally planning on writing exclusively about the Husband. As you can see however, this post turned in a different direction. Maybe once I complete it, I'll write about how fantastic it was, because it truly is a magnificent story. My current dilemma is this, I'll be done with it either tomorrow (if not later tonight) or the day after, depending on how much reading time I dedicate to it. When I'm done with it...what's next? It's still another four months before Brother Odd hits shelves! That's probably why, as difficult as it is, I'm procrastinating finishing the book. I could have been done with it by now, had I not taken the time to write this post. There are only ten chapters or so left, and short ones, too. Damn.
I guess when I'm done I could finish Cajas de Cartón, the Spanish book I bought a while back but never finished reading. It's an interesting read, but it is one of those thin, read-in-a-day books. Even though I'm Mexican-American, my Spanish is not all that great. I bought the book mainly to practice my reading skills in Spanish, and because a good writing comes from good reading. It would be a shame if I was never able to write as well in Spanish as I am in English. Perhaps I will look for another worthy book that is in Spanish. If I find a thick one that is also difficult for me, it should take up a considerable amount of time. Enough hopefully so that when I am done, I won't have to wait much longer for the release of Brother Odd.
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