Homeland - R.A. Salvatore

Now, that's what I call a good novel in the D&D universe. You can feel that R.A. Salvatore knows how to write.

It is the beginning of the tales of the legendary Drizzt Do'Urden, the unusual Drow (dark elf). From his birth to his decision concerning his family, you follow his firsts steps in that dark, dark world that is Menzoberranzan and the Underdark.

That one didn't disappoint me. It was still as good as I remembered it after around 15 years.

So, now, onwards to the second volume.

So far in 2018: https://www.gog.com/forum/general/books_finished_in_2018/post9

★☆☆ Jupyter for Data Science / Dan Toomey

Only 5-10% of content is somehow related to Jupyter and you won't find deeper dive into advanced functions here. The book is also terribly messy, with no clear structure, mixed R and Python code examples etc. which is probably natural consequence of not knowing what exactly you're writing about. Perhaps you can find some valuable information here, but from the book's title and subject - it's just one star.

★★☆ Practical Big Data Analytics / Nataraj DasGupta

Nice explanation of some Big Data techniques. Probably the best explanation of what is Hadoop and how it works.

★★☆ Lewa wolna / Józef Mackiewicz

List of all books finished in 2018.

I just finished a graphic novel called Son of the Gun: Saint. I like stuff by Alejandro Jodorowsky and this one didn't disappoint.

To Walk in the Way of Lions

Note: The review refers to the edition included in Sword, Steam and Sky: Four Book Fantasy Bundle.

Still like the writing style, the author really is a storyteller, though she's also still in bad need of another pair of eyes to look over the text and do something about the many typos and even less easily explainable mistakes left in it, which is something I'm not sure how I forgot to mention in the quick review for the previous book in the series. But speaking of that previous book, the first half of this one can be described as largely more of the same in the good way, if anything perhaps even with less of the issues found there. The setting is still intriguing and the postapocalyptic aspect can still pretty much be ignored, the characters and their interactions remain interesting, believable, with layers and at least moments of depth, and you'll probably care and cheer for them without even the possible exceptions which may have existed before.
But all of that applies to the first half... The second starts with the postapocalyptic aspect of the setting being explained and becoming impossible to ignore. Still far less problematic than what you'd normally expect when you see the term, but I assume it'll only get worse in the following books and it was quite an issue even in this one, seeing as I dislike the genre. In addition, the story and the characters get pushed too hard, stretched too thin. Actions and events don't quite add up, things are happening too fast without getting explained, or with the provided explanations being far from sufficient or, in some cases, even reasonable. And that's worse, since missing explanations may be provided later, but explanations and motivations that don't add up will continue to not add up. And it's probably not a case of lack of skill or ideas, and it may not even be due to rushing to finish, but possibly due to this infuriating drive to make books shorter and cut out anything deemed unessential, even though in plenty of cases, definitely including this one if this is what happened, those "unessential" elements are actually anything but.

Rating 3/5

Exile - R.A. Salvatore

Second book of the initial Drizzt Do'Urden (Dungeons&Dragons) trilogy. Still very well written. Short and thus enjoyable. D&D novels are not exactly always masterpieces, so better short than sorry. And R.A. Salvatore delivers.

A must read for a D&D fans.

So far in 2018: https://www.gog.com/forum/general/books_finished_in_2018/post9

Nine Tomorrows - Isaac Asimov

As the title says, 9 short stories about "tomorrow" by the grandmaster of S-F, Isaac Asimov. While written mostly in the 50s, none of those short stories have lost even an ounce of their punch and relevance. From the impact of changing just one letter in your name to the question of the entropy of the universe, everything falls in place and it's a delight to read.

So far in 2018: https://www.gog.com/forum/general/books_finished_in_2018/post9

★★★ The Data Warehouse Toolkit: The Complete Guide to Dimensional Modeling / Ralph Kimball

As far as I know - it's kind of classic in the subject and Kimball is kind of guru if you think about dimentional database modeling. The book is great - designed as a set of examplary data warehouses' implementations, each of them more complicated than the previous one and focused on slightly different aspects and problems. Indeed, fantastic way to explain the theory in practice. I've found the book very complete and valuable reading.

★★☆ Niepełnia / Anna Kańtoch

A bit of detective story, mistery and psychological thriller. I liked it, it was surprisingly close to earlier works of the author, which I strongly prefer over the more current and mainstream ones.

List of all books finished in 2018.

Utoya - Laurent Obertone

A documentary book about Anders Breivik, the far-right killer who killed 77 norwegians, 11 with a bomb in Oslo and 66 himself on Utoya island, where a Left party had its annual youth gathering.

Laurent Obertone, a french journalist, decides to retell us this story by literaly being in the head of Breivik. So the story of the events are told from his point of view, cut here and there by forensic reports, by journalists and policemen testimonies.

It's a strange book. No one can argue that it's an interesting take on one of the evilest persons on Earth still alive and Laurent Obertone writes everything without judging, just recounting the facts.

...or is he? Laurent Obertone is no neutral witness here. He has a past of polemic books about the state of France, polemic in the sense that they lean towards the hard right, and is often published by a publisher who isn't shy to publish far-right books.

So, you get to wonder, at one point of the book: is it still Breivik speaking and Obertone is merely telling us his thoughts with no filters, or does Obertone seize the occasion to agree with some of Breivik's ideas without saying it at all, so it can't be held against him?

That's a point where the book gives you a strange feeling and you're either fascinated and you keep on reading or you're disgusted and you give up. Either case, that book can't let you reactionless.

Laurent Obertone does know how to write a gripping book, and many times I've compared his style to another french controversial writer (fiction), Maurice G. Dantec.

So, unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have been translated in any other language than french for the moment, but if you can read french, it's a singular experience.

So far in 2018: https://www.gog.com/forum/general/books_finished_in_2018/post9

★☆☆ The Name of the Rose / Umberto Eco

A bit disappointing, to be honest.

★☆☆ Halbblut / Karol May

And this one too...

List of all books finished in 2018.

I'd really like to know in what way(s) it was disappointing to you, since it's one of the books I love the most. No fanboyism here, just want to know your take on that book! :)

https://twitter.com/pcgamer/status/1037760098758787075

well said.

repetition and routine

I find myself simply alleviating the' 'grind' when my GF is playing

I have just about everything (or can synthesize) but, there is joy in leading someone through the experience

the holistic experience is very narrative--it could;d be a book

Thanks for taking the time to answer me! ^_^ Yeah, I can understand, especially the bit about watching the movie first. While the movie is great, the book is far better, to my opinion.

A small update, since these days I'm reading faster than I can update the list here.

Pietr-le-Letton - Georges Simenon

The very first Police Commissionner Maigret novel! Very interesting and very representative of Simenon's style. No flashy action, everything is slow and cerebral. It will certainly be interesting to see the evolution of the character through the successive novels.

La petite écuyère a cafté - Jean-Bernard Pouy

The first novel of the "Le Poulpe" ("the Octopus") series. The Octopus is the nickname of the main character, mainly because he has longer than usual arms. He is no police officer or private eye, but he loves to meddle into muddy waters to protect the innocents. The characteristic of the series is that every novel is written by a different author. Worth reading if you can read french or if there is a translation in your language (even if the translation might be difficult, given the amount of slang used!).

Saigne-sur-mer - Serge Quadruppani

The second novel of the "Le Poulpe" series. Excellent novel, situated in southern France, with mafia-like bad guys and femmes fatales... in different ways!

Arrêtez le carrelage - Patrick Raynal

The third novel of the "Le Poulpe" series. Longer, since the two frist novels were around 100 pages and were more short stories than full-lenght novels. The longer side isn't bad, there's time for more plot twists, deeper characters, more everything, in short! ^_^

So far in 2018: https://www.gog.com/forum/general/books_finished_in_2018/post9

Songs in the Year of the Cat

As I was also saying about the previous book in the series, definitely like the writing style, despite the fact that there are still some typos, the setting remains intriguing, battle scenes are even more thrilling, and by now the characters have really grown into their personalities, each with layers and facets and depth and their own distinctive voice. I’m still particularly drawn to Fallon’s, shall we say, unfiltered but well-meaning awkwardness, but all the main ones are fleshed out, believable, to care and to cheer for, and some secondary ones aren’t bad at all either.
Unsure how to react to death being not just less of a nuisance than a common cold for any magically-gifted character, but likely even desirable, considering how things play out. But the much bigger issue I’m torn about has to do with the part of the story involving humans and taking place between the previous book and this one. It’s necessary, but I don’t want to see any of it, so the fact that it’s split and scattered throughout the book, quite rushed, especially at the end, and lacking many otherwise necessary details is both reason for complaint and cause for relief.
Definitely still bothered by the postapocalyptic setting, which, while still not at the level you’d expect, is now much harder to ignore or take as merely a backdrop. How much I enjoyed it in spite of this is a testament to how good the book is otherwise, but I so wish all of that would have been eliminated, replaced with something else. And, while perhaps no longer so much of a necessity, would have strongly preferred this book to be at least half again as long as well, adding many more details about characters, events and little things. As for some more specific, “localized” annoyances, all the infuriating and downright nauseating fussing and cooing over babies comes first to mind, but there’s also the untranslated speech in other languages. The point may be to show that characters didn’t understand it well either, but I was often left hardly understanding anything at all.

Rating: 4/5