Wayne and Rebecca Madsen

While one of the more suspenseful Terry Pratchett novels I've read, this book doesn't take the cut as being one of his best told stories, along the lines of Men at Arms or Sourcery. I did appreciate the humor of affirmative action in a City patrol made of warring factions of races. I could laugh at the continuing puns that ran rampantly through this book. I even felt for the heartfelt and touching moments at the end of the book with Dorfl.  read more »

Jingo, by Terry Pratchett, is another in the City Watch series with all your favorite characters.

This book, however, was boring. I prefer the Patrician to be a sideline character, and not a principle adventurist. It wasn't as believable to have his character trekking across the known world to save the day when he should be smart enough to get other people to do it for him.  read more »

Two books from the Discworld's City Watch series. While Guards Guards wasn't my favorite book, I rank Men at Arms as being at the top of the Pratchett books I've read so far. I'm not sure if it could be considered better than Color, mostly because that would be comparing apples to oranges, or police to wizards. Or whatever. Fifth Elephant was also good, but good in a who-dun-it sort of way. Men at Arms was a brilliant novel.  read more »

Let's play pretend and say this book was mixed up in the multiverse and was actually authored by Robin McKinley, not Terry Pratchett. Or at least, let's just do that for Comparison's sake. Although, I don't know anyone named Comparison nor why we should care for his sake.  read more »

This is the second book in the Percy Jackson series; which Rebecca and I both think is almost an exact copy of the structure of the Harry Potter series. Just in a mythology setting. But that doesn't make this a bad book: instead, the story keeps itself under control and poses some interesting plot conundrums which make this story a well written children's tale.  read more »

Another Terry Pratchett. But not a Terry Pratchett.

This book was a serious fantasy novel. Even poignant. Even touching. Not comedic. I chuckled once. In fact, the only thing which ties this novel into the previous Discworld series books is that it takes place on the same planet [okay, so maybe there's a little bit more than that]. So imagine a series of novels about New York City and using the same characters, and then you pick up one about Tibet.  read more »

We are in the process of compiling our own travel guides for places we have lived: hopefully an insider's glimpse into these locations. This list is a directory of the best restaurants in the places we have been. These are the sorts of restaurants where you cry when the place shuts down (or even if the chef leaves and it no longer tastes the same); the sorts of places our friend jokes would be "best if you could just burn down the place afterwards so you never forget how great that food was." A bit morbid, but you get the jist - good food. The sort of place you should make a cross-country trip to eat there.
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We love good food. While there are many restaurants we have tried and liked and we have many good recommendations for different types of food, these are the select few restaurants which you can not pass through the area without trying.

• St. John's - best burgers, Wednesday and Saturday is half price
  
• El Taco de Oro - best burritos/taco truck
  
• Sonoma Chicken Coup - fancy food at cheap prices
  
• Chicago Pizza - deep dish pizza in Santa Clara
  
• Cafe Baklava - Mediterranean in Mountain View
• Stan's Donut Shop - best donuts we have ever had
• Wrap This - the only place to get a real gyro

I like Terry Pratchett. I like his Discworld series a great deal. So far.  read more »

Neil Gaiman (apparently pronounced Gaym'n, not GUY-man - like someone told me) has to be my favorite author right now, and by far one of the most refreshing authors I've come across in a long time. His tales don't "feel" the same as any other authors but I'm not sure why that is. Some have speculated that a familiar Gaiman theme of characters whose nature works against their perceived roles is common in his books/graphic novels.  read more »