The Night Watch (Sergei Lukyanenko)

I'm not all that sure what it was that made me decide to read The Night Watch. I saw the movie at the store once and thought 'gee, that'll probably be absolutely ridiculous' and never bothered watching it. And to be perfectly honest I am not one to read fantasy or vampire novels all that often. Sure, I watched Buffy and Angel, but that could have more because of Whedon's skill. It is just that I am more of a sci-fi/horror person, if you want to get down to semantics.

So I basically went into this with a rather cynical mind, and when I finished it the next day I couldn't wait to get my hands on The Day Watch. I was an enthralling novel with engaging characters and thought provoking ideas.

Sometimes it became a little convoluted and the writing was a little stilted (though I blame that on the translator, not the writer). What I really enjoyed was the cultural differences- in this case there was no generational gap- the stereotypical view of a drunken Russian as portrayed by a Russian!

I had one major problem with this book- the ending. I hated the ending. It wasn't completely out of the blue, predictable even, but I just didn't like it. At all. But the book is still worth the read.

29 Down, 23 to Go

Selected Stories (Anton Chekov)

I have a selection of Stand-by Books, ones that sit on the shelf waiting for the day that I have nothing else to read. Mostly they are classics and authors that I consider must reads, or books that I have bought and just couldn't get into but intend on finishing. This is one of the classics that I thought was necessary. It would be impossible not to be able to get into the stories, because few of them are more than a few pages long and are over before you have the chance to really become engaged, or disinterested.
As far as I can tell, Chekov is an art for arts sake sort of man, writing the truth rather than trying to subtly add some sort of hidden meaning or moral into his word. But that doesn't stop you from stopping and thinking about the characters in the character driven stories, stories that are written almost entirely in conversation form.
There isn't really much to say, the stories were interesting but they didn't have the sort of depth that I love.