Brunner's Bar

R.I.P. I can't believe it's here already!!!! The R.I.P. Event is my favorite of the year and I look forward to this ever time. Had I not gotten the email about Carl's opening post I wouldn't have known because I thought this was just the month of October. Fall is my favorite time of year and it's just around the corner and thanks to my Father-in-Law, I already have Pumpkin Beer chilling in my fridge. I love everything about Fall, the leaves turning on the trees, that first cold breeze pushing the back drenching heat of Summer, and the horror and mystery novels I pull of the shelf for this time of year. As I anxiously await my favorite holiday Halloween and the beginning of Winter, I have the distinct pleasure to participate in the R.I.P. challenge. R.I.P. is known as Readers Imbibing Peril, and it is a challenge to read Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Dark Fantasy, Gothic, Horror, and Supernatural. This challenge is put on by  Stainless Steel Droppings  normally

The Nerdist Way I, am a Nerd. It shouldn't come as a shock to anyone who has ever read this blog but until recent years you never would have heard me admit to it. Like most nerds my age the early years were really tough for me. I was constantly picked on and bullied until I reached college. K-12 were some of the worst years of my life because I was an outcast because I wanted to be Batman and not some sports star.  Chris Hardwick understands this and even though he will be the first to say he is not King of the nerds, he is, in my mind, one of the pioneers that made being a nerd cool. A lover of Comics, Star Trek, and Doctor Who, Chris Hardwick has created an empire around being proud of who you are and standing up for your Nerd/Geek right. This book is a self help book for Nerds looking to take advantage of what we are and make it work for us in a world that is now run by Nerds. I don't read self help books but I am a big fan of Chris Hardwick. This man has a crazy

Death of the Family Well my Batman love fest continues. I loved the whole Death of the Family story line and I was really looking forward to reading this one. The section that involves the Death of the family story was really good and I had read this before but the best part of the whole book was the beginning section.  The book starts out with Damien setting up a world wide scavenger hunt for Bruce to reconnect with his family history. Secretly Damien has ulterior motives but the whole story was really touching. It was nice to see this softer side of Bruce and learn little bits about his parent's history. I think that these books are hitting me so close to home is because my son just started school and he is growing up way to fast. Seeming these moments with Bruce and Damien being a father and son connect with me because I can't be prouder of the little man he is turning out to be.  The writing is very well done and the art work is just as good. I loved this boo

Summer Knight I love this series. There is so much that happened in this book it is hard to pick just one aspect that is my favorite. What I will always love is Harry Dresden and his quirky, and sarcastic one liners. Reading my old review that I had written almost 3 years ago I still agree with it. So far this is the best book in the series.  This book has absolutely everything you could put in a book and more. We have action, intense battle scenes, betrayal, romance, as well as lost loves. To cap it all off it has the fantasy and wizardry we can expect from a Dresden files book. I can't think of any more obstacles that Jim Butcher could through at our snarky sorcerer. Following the last book the Red court of Vampires is ready to wage a war against all wizards unless they can have Harry Dresden. This causes the White counsel of Wizards to be in a difficult position. They are not big fans of Harry's and would love nothing more than to kick him out, but they can't

Welcome to another edition of Bout of Books. I really love this event and I try to do this as often as I can. It seems lately I do every other one but I at least try to advertise for them on my blog all the time. Today kicks off this week long read-a-thon and I have some decent goals. Goals: Since I don't get a lot of time to read the actual books I have, most of my goals will be Audio related. I finally got my wife to try out the Dresden Files books and it all started because I made her watch the TV series with Paul Blackthorn. I know the die hard Dresden fans hate this which is probably why it only got one season but it's goofy and funny and I didn't have high expectations so I loved this show. Since I am trying to re-read the few books I have already read so I can talk with my wife about them, I plan on starting book 5 "Death Masks" this week and finish it with my wife. At this time I can't decide if I am going to move on to book 6, "Blood

Pearl The first volume was great and got me completely hooked on the series, this one only solidified my love for these books. In this book Damien has made some bad decisions and is ready to rpve he is the definitive Robin. He calls a meeting of all the previous Robins and calls them out. He says he will defeat them and keep a token to show he is better. Throughout the book we get great scenes with each character and Damien. On top of all of this we get snippets of his origin story with his mother Talia which were great to help understand just how messed up Damien really is.  There is a lot of other smaller plot lines in this book on top of the family battle. This book touches briefly with the Court of Owls Batman story line which I honestly expected to dominate more of this book. We also have a newly formed group of Batman "Victims" who want to show the world how terrible Batman is and they don't care who they hurt in the process. The kicker at the very end is

Born to Kill I was fortunate enough to get Batman and Robin Vol 6 from DC Comics and Netgalley and I really liked it. I will be honest and say I really am not a fan of Damien. When this series started I wasn't overly impressed but I kept reading because Dick Grayson was Batman and Bruce was missing. I wanted to know how he would come back and become Batman but I stopped reading before I got there. I had put this series off until I got my Advanced reader copy. That was enough to make me want to go back and read what I had missed of the New 52.   This book was awesome and I am hooked. I'm on a mad dash to catch up on all the books i have missed. This book has everything. Betrayal, secrets, lies, and some amazing action scenes. Bruce is doing the best he can to be the type of father Damien needs but because of the brain washing the League of Assassins out him through it is proving difficult. If trying to raise a child killer wasn't hard enough a figure from Bruce&#

Bout of Books 14 It's that time again and I am excited to be able to participate in this round of  Bout of Books . I have had a really good year so far with my reading. Thanks to being able to listen to audio books at work I am quickly getting through my to-read pile. I usually use this event to try and catch up on my Graphic novel challenge but I only need one more graphic novel to meet my goal. In case you don’t know what Bout of Books is all about here is a little blurb: The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @  On a Book Bender  and Kelly @  Reading the Paranormal . It is a weeklong read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 12th and runs through Sunday, May 18th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 10 information and upd

Grave Peril This was a great book. This is one of those books that as soon as I started to read it I knew I was going to like it. Even on a re-read I was pulled back into Dresden's world and couldn't wait for the ride I knew would come next. In this installment we have a firmly established character that needs no introduction so the action jumps right in. Ghosts and Ghouls are running rampant in Chicago and Harry and his friend Michael, a Knight of the cross, are the only ones who can stop them.  Something has been stirring up the Nevernever making the plane between the dimensions weak. Things are flooding into our world with power and evil we humans have never seen. On top of all that the Red court of Vampires is looking expand their numbers and somehow Harry plays into their plans. To make matters worse it seems like those closest to Harry are the ones who are being targeted. I really liked this book and since I listened to this in audio form I really enjoyed the

The Hunt for Robin I'm going to be honest up front and say I haven't read a single book in this series since before Bruce took the cowl back from Dick Grayson. I was never a huge fan of Damien Wayne as Robin because I hated the idea of Bruce having a son that wasn't Dick or Tim Drake. New 52 rolled around and I never bothered to pick these up but I have kept up with the bigger details of these books. The cover and title was the whole reason I decided to request this book. Net Galley and DC Comics were gracious enough to allow me to read this for an honest review and I am so glad they did. Bruce has had a tough go of things since Damien was killed. I get it, I can't imagine what it would be like to be in his position. I would do anything I could if it meant I might be able to bring one of my kids back from the dead. In this book Ra's Al Ghul has dug up and taken both Damien and Talia's body from their graves on the Wayne Estate. Bruce will chase Ra

Solitude Creek Jeffery Deaver is one of the best writers out there. As anyone who reads my blog regularly would know he is my favorite author and I look forward to every book he writes. This book is a classic Deaver book with twists and turns around every page and plenty of suspense, but for me there was something more in this one.  The villain in this one doesn't care how many people he kills or who dies he just wants chaos. He causes things in crowded places causing a stampede and a riot. In the opening of the book we are at a concert for some boy band and and all of a sudden there is the smell of fire. People panic and try to head towards the exits but they are blocked. What happens next is terrifying. I am not claustrophobic but the thoughts of being trapped in a crowd of people or being trampled by fearful people trying to get out is one of the worst things I could think of. That and seeing someone I love trapped in that same mass panic and being dragged further and