Ann’s Comments (group member since Dec 20, 2013)

Ann’s comments from the CPL's Book a Week Challenge group.

I want to read Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorgosigan Saga. I've read some of them, and enjoyed them, so I think I'll try to read them from the beginning. The book club book for the month is Fahrenheit 451, which I've read before (it's been a while).

Yes! I read before bed, at lunchtime, at home, at coffee shops. I listen to audiobooks, I read ebooks and physical books, and I usually have more than one book going at a time.
I seem to be in a read all of one series phase, I've finished reading Victoria Thompson (except for the newest one- which the library doesn't have), and am now reading Charles Todd's mysteries. The ebook that I'm reading is called The Captain's Daughter, a novel about survivors of the Titanic, and the audiobook I'm listening to is Origin in Death by J.D. Robb.

I'm currently reading The Girl with the Pearl Earring, which I am thoroughly enjoying. The story is told from the viewpoint of the model, rather than the artist. Even though she starts working in his house as the maid, she starts to help him with his art: grinding his colors and cleaning his studio. Through her exposure to his work in progress, she begins to understand his treatments of light and color in his work.

Joanna wrote: "I've been on a Tolkien-kick recently so most of my "really want to read" books are from or about him.



Tolkien and the Great War sounds interesting, I might have to check it out.

There are several authors that I would like to reread and get caught up on (Charles Todd, Anne Perry, Jacqueline Winspear), but these are 5 books that I would like to read this year:

This past week I read (the last is the one I'm currently reading):
Can't wait to get caught up with the series, evidently something big has happened in one of the books I haven't read yet.

I'm almost finished listening to The Lightning Thief and then on to .

Rekesha wrote: "Ann wrote: "This week I'm reading (the last I'm 3/4 of the way through):


I just picked up Murder on Gramercy Park and I have abandoned my other two books..."

Anytime. I love this series. I'd picked Murder on Lenox Hill for this month's book club book, but had to reread the entire series from the beginning. I've just started Murder in Little Italy, and am loving it.

Liz wrote: "Anyone have any suggestions for other good crime/murder novels?"

Steve Berry is good, Greg Iles, J.D. Robb, The Women's Murder Club by Patterson.
If you want to try historical: Tasha Alexander, Anne Perry, Victoria Thompson, Jacqueline Winspear, Laurie R. King.
I reread the first two Miss Marple books by Agatha Christie, and I've also been rereading Sherlock Holmes by Doyle, and I love the Lord Peter mysteries by Dorothy L. Sayers.

This week I'm reading (the last I'm 3/4 of the way through):

I'm still listening to this (what can I say, my commute isn't that long):

I read the latest Donna Andrews' book, The Good, the Bad, and the Emus , which was very enjoyable. I love seeing what Meg and her crazy family are up to.

I also read Phoenix Rising , an enjoyable steampunk by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris.

I started listening to audiobooks on my drive to and from work, the first one is Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief. The reader does a good job.

Rekesha wrote: " Frank looked up and gasped in surprise at the house sitting on the rise before him. It seemed enormous, large enough to accommodate the inhabitants of an entire block of tenements. Myriad window..."

I love that series, I want to reread them starting with book one, but sadly I keep giving away my copy. I went to B&N, but they had to order it for me. :)

No one ever doubted that if Crown Prince Frederick came to the throne of Prussia Bismarck and the far-right party would be dismissed and his wife, Victoria, would be the power behind the throne. As king and queen of Prussia in 1862, Fritz and Vicky would probably have had decades to try and realize her father's political vision. The forces of liberal democracy would have had a better chance of prevailing over militarism and absolutism. It is not absurd to argue that, had the prince consort lived even one more year, had his daughter Vicky had a chance to dictate Crown policy and shape society in Prussia, there might not have been a First World War.

A long quote, but definitely food for thought, the book it is from is We Two: Victoria and Albert: Rulers, Partners, Rivals by Gillian Gill. Among other things I learned was that Prince Albert's last act of diplomacy (done while dying of typhoid) was to keep Britain out of the American civil war. It was an interesting book, and an interesting look at not only Victoria and Albert but their families as well as those people who influenced them.

I just finished the 12th of Never by James Patterson, and am waiting for my hold of Unlucky 13 to come in. At the moment I am reading Kiss of Midnight by Lara Adrian, she has an interesting take on vampires. After that I plan to read the last of Jeaniene Frost's Cat and Bones books and then the Victoria Thompson book for book club (I might reread the whole series- they're that good).

I enjoy reading historical mysteries, particularly those set in the 1800s up to WWI. Our book club book for this month is one of Victoria Thompson's Gaslight mysteries, set in 1880s New York City and the main characters are a widowed midwife and a police detective. It's a great series.

Last week I said that I had read 1st to Die and wanted to read more of the series. I am currently reading 8th Confession, and have the next 4 books already checked out. I am quite enjoying this series.

Spandau Phoenix was my action/adventure book, which I finished and liked. I also read The Quiet Game, also by Greg Iles, which I think I liked more. It is the first book in his series about Penn Cage, a lawyer/writer from Natchez, Mississippi.
I also read 1st to Die, this month's book for the book club. I enjoyed it, there were a couple of plot twists that I did not see coming (although I did figure one of them out). It made me want to read more of the series.
I finished The Selection series, with the last book The One. It did a good job of tying up the main storylines. This would make a good movie series.

"The North Sea lay serene, unusual for spring, but night would soon fall on a smoking, broken continent reeling from the shock of war." That is the first sentence from Greg Iles' Spandau Phoenix, which I am 28 pages from finishing but had to stop reading and go back to work.

I've started another YA series, but C.J. Redwine. The first book is Defiant, the second was Deceived. The third comes out in August. An interesting series, can't wait to read the 3rd book and see how things wrap up.

I read The Selection by Kiera Cass Friday. Sunday I went to B&N and bought a copy of The Elite (book 2) and am almost finished with it. Friday, I'll be going back to B&N to pick up my copy of The One. I hope it lives up to the first two books.

I read 12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup, this month's book club selection. It was a powerful book, I'm now interested to see the movie to see if it is true to the book.
And for something completely different, I checked out from the library Darynda Jones' Sixth Grave on the Edge. I love this series. :)

You know I can't pick just one, right? :)
That said I would call it a tie between The Hunger Games (the whole trilogy) and Jeaniene Frost's Cat and Bones series (I've read all but the newest).
Also, if you haven't read Darynda Jones' Grave series- it is a hoot. What really caught my attention was watching J.R. Ward go total fangirl when she met the author.