Pendergast Task Force discussion

Please introduce yourself here and let us know why you joined the group and what you hope to contribute to the group and get from the group.

Myself, I am a Professional Development trainer and confirmed Bibliophile. I have always loved reading and have become a fan of fantasy only lately. I first read Relic because I remember the ads for the movie being amazing. I am very glad I did read the book. Boy the movie stank. Anyway I had sort of paid attention to some of the other books coming out and I picked up Reliquary and read that then picked up Cabinet of Curiosities and realized I had missed some stuff. I went back and read Thunderhead.

Recently I was able to snag most of the rest of the books at the local library and I have been hooked. Just wanted a place to share my thoughts on the books and hopefully get some insights into stuff I hadn't noticed.

I have read all of the pendergast books twice, except for the wheel of darkness. Obviously, I love them. I'm a stay at home wife who loves to read and have a library/office in my new home. Reading is my great passion.

Susan C.

Susan,

Welcome to the Task Force. You are welcome to start new discussions, add you comments to others. I have been working (sporadically) on sharing some of my favorite Easter Eggs from the books.

What exactly is an Easter Egg in a book?

Susan

An Easter Egg is just a hidden surprise. In Software development programmers will often sneak in little fun surprises if you know how to find them.

In books, Easter eggs are quirky little references or clues that while not essential to the plot are kind of fun. Check the discussion for examples. One other easter egg from another series is the fact that J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter share the same birthday.

Hey I'm Kate. I am 13 years old and have just started reading Pendergast books. I started with Relic when my highschool brother was reading it for a book report. I loved it!! So far I've read Brimstone, Relic, Reliquary, The Cabinet of Curiosities and I am reading Dance of Death.

I'm Laurin. I've read all of the Agent Pendergast books (about halfway through with the audiobook of Cemetery Dance right now). Love them! The other books by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (separately) have also been really good, but they are different than the Pendergast books. I just finished Blasphemy by Douglas Preston and a bit before that I finished Terminal Freeze by Lincoln Child.

I never thought about Easter Eggs in the Pendergast books. I'll have to give this some thought!

Hi Laurin. Hi Kate. Welcome to the group. I've also been working the the Pendergast books. Reading them in order. I have left to read "The Wheel of Darkness" and then the new "Cemetery Dance". I love these authors. they keep it really suspenseful. I've read about half of their individual books. I just got a Kindle 2 last month, so now I am reading all e-books. I'm going to wait till Cemetery Dance and Terminal Freeze comes out in mass paperback, then the Kindle edition price will drop.

Mitchell wrote: "An Easter Egg is just a hidden surprise. In Software development programmers will often sneak in little fun surprises if you know how to find them.

In books, Easter eggs are quirky little refer..."


Great to have you in the group. I hope you like the books.

Has anyone read Cemetery Dance what do you think so far?

Mitchell wrote: "Has anyone read Cemetery Dance what do you think so far?"

Not read it yet. I've got a few more Preston/Child books to read on my Kindle first.

Hey hey! New here. Joined because... well, because of Pendergast. Enough said, we all know he's too amazing not to love.

Hi! New here, to Pendergast Task Force and Goodreads!

Welcome Miriam. It's not too active here, but feel free to add your thoughts.

Welcome to our new folks, I am afraid Laurie is correct this isn't the most active of groups, but we are nice (unless you are a bad guy living in an underground lair then look out)

Nice to have our new folks.

My name is Robert Zumwalt and I just got back in to reading in June 2009. I spent 5 years in the navy and currently work for a Natural Gas company here in Oklahoma. I am happily married and have 3 beautiful children who also enjoy my Borders Rewards points ( they like books too).

I joined this group because Special Agent Pendergast is the best character I have ever had the pleasure to read about. I Like Scott Harvath (brad Thor) and Robert Langdon (Dan Brown) but no one can touch Aloyisus!! I also joined to get the inside scoop on new Pendergast novels and any kind of movies that may be in the works (and pray Hollywood doesnt botch em)!!
Thanks for having me!!

I'll make my intro quick, as it's almost 5 am and I'm finger-pecking this on my iPhone!

So glad to find this group! Wish it was more active! There is a great P&C fan forum, I'll have to get the addy off of my laptop. They're very active and have great fan fiction. (my husband is currently in the process of writing a Pendergast fic about his hinted at time in the special forces. I'm excited because this will let me imagine another side of Pendergast we don't get to see. Also excited to read it since my hubby just got out of the Army after 10 years and is a military historian, so it'll at least be accurate!) the best thing about the site is that P&C are cool with it and make posts ocassionaly. So many authors HATE fan fic and are in-accessable to fans. If you go on P&Cs official site you can email them and they've always responded to my emails. Plus there are chapters on there that got cut from the books that you can read. I can't say enough about how cool these guys are!

As for Pendergast, I've been in love with him from the moment I "met" him! (I have this problem, I fall in love with fictional characters. And Pendergast is the love of my literary life!) the first P&C cook I read was "Cabinet of Curiosities" and is still my favorite. That was December of 2004! My husband and I own every novel that P&C have written together and several of the novels they've written apart. They are both good authors but together they are unstoppable!

As for what I can contribute to the group: enthusiasm, knowledge of every Pendergast book (if you want to discuss one, email me!), and I'd love to beta/edit any fanfic (don't go by my spelling here, lol, the iPhone browser doesn't have spellcheck. I'd use my laptop with FireFox).

Wow, so I said I'd keep it short: FAIL!

Best reading,
Kate

Here's the site address for the forums. I haven't been on in a while, and it looks like not a lot of others have either. Still a lot of good info. It usually gets very busy before a new Pendergast book comes out and one ("Fever Dream") is due in May(?).

http://prestonchild.yuku.com/

Kate wrote: "Here's the site address for the forums. I haven't been on in a while, and it looks like not a lot of others have either. Still a lot of good info. It usually gets very busy before a new Pendergast ..."

Thanks for the info. Checking it out. Welcome to this forum.

I've read almost all the Pendergast books (haven't gotten around to reading " Wheel of Darkness" yet) I've read "Cemetary Dance", and liked it (far more than I did "The Book of the Dead"), and was teary-eyed at their choice of victim. Nevertheless, looking forward to reading "Fever Dream"!

I can't wait for the new book either! I am very excited. You should check out wheel of darkness. it was good. Of course, how could it not be.

Hello! My name's Tara. I've been an avid Pendergast reader since I was in high school. I started with Still Life With Crows and have since read all the books in order and Still Life With Crows twice. It's my favorite book.
I joined because I adore Pendergast. He is my favorite literary character of all time. I love how he never ceases to amaze.

Hello all, my name is Bonnie and I'm a Pendergast fan. A friend introduced me to the series a few years ago and that's all it took. I am not caught up in the series yet because I am a bookworm in general, and other books keep getting in the way, lol. Brimstone was the last of the series that I have read. I own a copy of Dance of Death but I don't have the next one yet so I have been debating reading it. I can't handle cliff-hangers so I want to be able to move on to the next book, lol. Still Life With Crows is my favorite of the series, and Relic is the first one I read( I went in order ).
I joined as soon as I saw this group because I don't meet many people who even know about this series, and it would be fun to get in touch with other Pendergast fans.

BonFire wrote: "Hello all, my name is Bonnie and I'm a Pendergast fan. A friend introduced me to the series a few years ago and that's all it took. I am not caught up in the series yet because I am a bookworm in g..."

Welcome! I am excited for you to read Dance of Death and Book of the Dead. they were great.

My name is Anna-sofie Jensen I'am from Denmark. My friend Anneintroduced me about the Pendergast books. And the first book I was reading was Cabinet of Curiosities and I was sold. Now I'am just missing to read The well of Darkness and Cemetary Dance and the new one. I'am reading still life with crow now and I just love them. My farvorite one is The book of dead to now.;)

sorry my bad english....

Anna-sofie wrote: "My name is Anna-sofie Jensen I'am from Denmark. My friend Anneintroduced me about the Pendergast books. And the first book I was reading was Cabinet of Curiosities and I was sold. Now I'am just mis..."

Dear Anna-sofie, welcome to all of us Pendergast fans. And may I say that there is no need to apologize for your English. It is much, much better than my Danish.

Thanks:)

Anna-sofie wrote: "Thanks:)"

Er du velkommen! (I cheated and looked that up so now I DO know a little of Danish)

Nice;)

Hey, everybody! Just found this group and wanted to join as I have read every P/C book and love them all.

Mitchell wrote: "Has anyone read Cemetery Dance what do you think so far?"

I Did not like it so much. The worst Pendergast book.

I'm Carol and this is my first time to comment on Pendegast books. I do like most of them and wish I had started at the very beginning. Cemetery Dance was a bit far out...especially for New York...but it definitely had the edge which I like about all his books.

Hello my name is Tiffanie. I purchased Book of the Dead (Hardback) on a clearance rack because I liked the cover. I read it in 1 day. That was a couple years ago. This past year I just started thinking about it and decided to research the authors. I pulled up their website and started reading about the other books in the series. As I started reading the sample of The Relic, I looked up and realized the movie that I watching was the same. I immediately went and purchased all the books except Fever Dream, it was not out yet, and read them al. I also got my husband hook on the series..

Hello,
Just recently learned of this series when I read fever Dream.
Now I'm hooked! :)

Hi Pendergast junkies. Jj. My name is Bart. As a child, I would spend all my money on books. As I grew older I lost my passion for reading. Busy with life and kids. Anyway, about 5 yrs ago, I listened to an audio book of Still Life With Crows with my brother in law on the way to and from work. I was hooked within 5 min. I have since then read all of the available Pendergast novels as well as listened to the audio books. Preston and Child have renewed my love for reading. THANKS GUYS! I am very excited to give and receive input with all of you.

My name is Tiffany and I am a Penderholic. Been a reader of Preston/Child books for 15 years. My favorite Pendergast novels are Cabinet of Curiosities and the Diogenes trilogy. Also, I've made a ton of fan art for the Pendergast universe. Maybe I'll share. ;-)

Hi. My name is Patricia and I discovered the Pendergast novels about a year ago when I signed out Still Life With Crows from our library. I have read them all up to Fever Dream. I have also read several of Preston's and Child's separate books. They are great writers and Aloysius is my fav character since Sherlock Holmes!
Still Life With Crows is still my fav of all their books and I have already pre-ordered their newest Pendergast novel to be published in August.
I just joined Goodreads website and wish to be part of this very interesting conversation in the Pendergast Task Force.
Thanks.

Hi All,
Found AXLP just a few months ago when i got my nook. I bought an ebook that came bundled with Cabinet of Curiosities. I was hooked and have since read all 10 books. Now reading Death Match by L Child.
Jody

Hi, Jody!

Hi All,

I read Cabinet of Curiosities just before leaving for college in 2004 and never looked back. I've read the whole series...several times now. It would be a struggle to come up with my favorite of the series (though Reliquary has a special place in my heart after reading it on a stalled subway one summer morning!). I'm currently listening to the unabridged version of Still Life with Crows (with Scott Brick reading, hooray!), and trying to come up with ways to pass the time until the August release!

Hi I'm Shelby. Love the series and was thrilled to find this group. Starting the newest one today!

Hi, I am brand new to Goodreads and am in the middle of reading all the Preston/Child novels. I absolutely LOVE Pendergast and the whole cast of characters that are in many of the books. I didn't know there was a series at first, I randomly chose "Cabinet of Curiosities" to read from Amazon then realized there are many more... now going back and reading them basically in the right order. It's great to find a group for fans of these books!! :)

Mary wrote: "...Which will never arrive because the f@($#(ing bookstore I ordered it from to be autographed and personalized by Douglas Preston LOST my order. Seriously??? So angry! Once in a lifetime chance and it's gone... "

There should be a way to rectify this. I can't imagine Doug or Linc OR the bookstore telling you it can't be done.

(btw, hi, I'm new here too)

Good Morning and Thanks for adding me. My biggest question is what does everyone read in the interim between Preston and Child books? I am nowhere near being done with them all, but close. Right now I am reading The Tomb by F Paul Wilson (the old version). Any suggestions?

@Mark: I just finished reading and enjoying "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline, also "A Dance With Dragons" by George R.R. Martin (book 5 of his "A Song of Ice and Fire" series which includes "The Game Of Thrones"). Also slogging through "The Monster of Perugia" by Mark Waterbury (a difficult read because he repeats himself a lot), and cued up is "Murder in Italy" by Candace Dempsey, both which are about the Amanda Knox situation. The rest of my (voluminous) recent reading isn't of enough interest (IMO) to comment upon. :)

Mary wrote: "...Douglas and Linc came through like stars and not only autographed the book, they put in the original note..."

That is wonderful! I am glad things worked out, and very sorry for your loss. Your father's passing left a big hole in your heart, but you can fill it with good memories and the love you have for him - and he will never die.

"The Gents" (Doug & Linc) are truly two very fine individuals. :)

Hello! I am so happy to have found this group. I am a confirmed Preston and Child fan and own all of their work, both as a team and individually. I am looking forward to some great discussions to come!
-PM Atterberry

Hi Everyone! I love that this group exsists as I am a big Special Agent A.X.L. Pendergast Fan. I've read everything - EVERYTHING - Preston and Child have written and absolutely love Pendergast. I am excited about the Helen Trilogy finale - Two Graves - coming out later this year. Can't wait to join the discussions in here, with like minded people who also love Aloysius! :o)

Hello,
I'm writing from the state of West Virginia and I must admit Pendergast rocks.I think I've also read everyone ofPreston/Childs mysteries

Hi Michelle. Welcome to our slightly crazed corner of the world. I tripped over Pendergast when I picked up a copy of Still Life With Crows and have been hopelessly addicted ever since. I have Two Graves preordered for my Nook and can't wait. I hope these guys never stop writing.