Nitescribe's 100 books

[A.J.]

So far:

Idlewild by Nick Sagan.

woo hoo! :}>

[A.J.]

Wow. I need to read faster. Huh.

2: The Tomb by F. Paul Wilson

[A.J.]

3:Candle's Burning by Tabitha King and Michael McDowell.

Good book-very weird. I like weird, I suppose.

[A.J.]

4: Bastion Falls by Susie Moloney

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5: Storm Front by Jim Butcher

[A.J.]

6: Ill Wind by Rachel Caine

Actually finished this yesterday. It was a quick, fun read. About as deep as a puddle, kind of like the main character. Purple velvet pants, indeed....

[A.J.]

7: Darkest Evening of the Year by Dean Koontz

I forgot I finished this audio book about a week ago, probably because it was NOT one of his best and was utterly forgettable. Hurrumph.

[A.J.]

8: Blue Moon by Lori Handeland

Not bad for pararomance...and better than Ill Wind in many ways. The main character had more personality than what's-her-name in Ill Wind, and even with some atrocious werewolf cliches, I enjoyed it.

[A.J.]

9: Mount Dragon by Preston/Child

I lurve, lurve, lurve these guys, and this was one of their better ones.

[A.J.]

10: Hunter's Moon by Lori Handeland

Number two in the series-not as interesting as number one, but I'm still reading number three, just to see it all come full circle. Full circle, get it? Snicker.

[A.J.]

11: Dark Moon by Lori Handeland

[A.J.]

12: Stealing Shadows by Kay Hooper

Too much "in the mind of a serial killer" stuff for me...I can take monsters of any kind except human. Human craziness and cruelty freaks me out. But very well written.

[A.J.]

13: You've Been Warned by James Patterson

Ugh.

[A.J.]

14: The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

Loved this book as a kid, and love it even more now. Good stuff.

[A.J.]

15: 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill

Some incredibly good stories, some eh. Overall, worth a look.

[A.J.]

16: Hidden Moon by Lori Handeland

I didn't realize this was book #7. I'll have to go back and find the ones in between #3 and #7. Hmmm...

[A.J.]

17: Fool Moon by Jim Butcher

I think I'm in love with Harry Dresden, especially when he's voiced by James Marsters. Sigh.

[A.J.]

18: Crescent Moon by Lori Handeland

I'm sensing a lunar theme in my reading.

[A.J.]

19: Lifeguard by James Patterson

Arg. Ugh. Horrible, but not as bad as You've Been Warned. Apparently, the writing partner on this book knows how to write-somewhat.

[A.J.]

20: Haunting Rachel by Kay Hooper

Not bad, but kinda boring to me. The characters seemed out of date, and I wanted more magic/supernatural stuff. Eh.

[A.J.]

21: Midnight Moon by Lori Handeland

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22: Grave Peril by Jim Butcher

Did I mention I love Harry Dresden? Although if I hear James Marsters prounouce "writhing" as "wreathing" one more time, I may scream. I love you as well, James, but jesus, nobody "wreathes in pain" unless they're REALLY sick of Christmas.

[A.J.]

23: Rising Moon by Lori Handeland

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24: Heat Stroke by Rachel Caine

God, this main character is a loud-mouthed, idiotic, sex-crazed fashion victim. Unfortunately, the plot is pretty good, and I care what happens what happens to everyone else in the books, so I'll probably keep reading the series. Sigh.

[A.J.]

25: Summer Knight by Jim Butcher

OMG, someone told James half way through this book how to pronounce "writhing"! He said it the wrong way in one sentence and the correct way in the very next one! I'm so happy...no more cringing on my part. People were starting to look at me funny at work when I listened to Dresden on my iPod.

[A.J.]

26: Maximum Ride #1: The Angel Experiment by James Patterson

Yick. Not even as good as the adult version of the story. Lots of repeating, as if he doesn't trust his teen audience to remember who the bad guys are or the logistics of the character's lives or whatever. I did not like.

[A.J.]

27: Thunder Moon by Lori Handeland

I think this is the last one on this series, and she sure ended it well. Best book so far by her, I must say.

[A.J.]

28: The Island by Heather Graham

Wow, she's not bad. I was surprised at how intriguing the plot was, although she needs to work on setting up the reasoning earlier in the story and not just stating "this is why they were actually there" at the end. But overall, not bad at all.

[A.J.]

29: Almost Moon by Alice Sebold

Very depressing, and not probably what I should be listening to right now, but quite good. Her characters are amazingly flawed and yet totally sympathetic.

[A.J.]

30: The Gingerbread Girl by Stephen King

Technically a novella, but whatever. I think I've transferred my King lust to his son, Hill. Heart Shaped Box was soooo good. Sigh.

[A.J.]

31: The Beach House by James Patterson and Peter De Jonge

Yick. I'm done with Patterson. This was written better than usual, line by line, but the plot was like a Movie of the Week from back in the 80's, when they did cheesy high fashion serial killer stories and such. Predictable and plodding and unrealistic.

[A.J.]

32: The Scarecrow and His Servant by Philip Pullman

Good fairytale stuff. Entertaining.

[A.J.]

33: The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman

Wow. So good.

[A.J.]

34: The Ruins by Scott Smith

This book took me a long time to get through, not because it's bad, but because it's so good. It's stomach-turning, spine-tingling, jaw-dropping horror, and I couldn't read it all in one sitting, or even in one month. The simplicity of the plot only adds to the tension, and the characters are all completely three diminsional. Very good stuff if you like your skin to crawl.

[A.J.]

35: Chill Factor by Rachel Caine

I'm addicted to this series now. Once I accepted that the heroine is a character from a chick-lit novel transplanted into urban fantasy, I could just ignore her babblings about fashion and her obsessive drooling over every guy she meets and enjoy the thrill ride. I really like Caine's plotting. It sings along like the Viper her heroine drives, fast and dangerous and prone to hairpin turns and skids and 360's. Brain candy never tasted better.

[A.J.]

36: Lost and Found By Carolyn Parkhurst

I loved her first book, Dogs of Babel, so I had high hopes for this one, but it's somewhat of a sophomore slump. Not horrible, just eh. A good summer read, I suppose.

[A.J.]

37: Windfall By Rachel Caine

Wheee!!!! My mind is on a sugar high and I love it.

[A.J.]

38: Firestorm by Rachel Caine

It's sad when I can measure how stressful my life has become by the fact that my 100 books in 08 thread has moved to the 3rd page.

On topic: I'm really glad I stuck with this series. It gets better and better, book by sugary book. The plot in this one is top notch and the cliffhanger at the end has me craving more. Caine is really skilled at creating a terrific story arc within one book while still moving forward (at break neck speed) with the overall mytharc of the series. Yay!

[A.J.]

39: Magyk by Angie Sage

Eh. Too traditional fantasy for me; if the elves don't ride motorcycles, I'm usually not interested. But it was well written, and I think any teen or preteen interested in Harry Potter or LOTR would enjoy it.

[A.J.]

40: Thin Air by Rachel Caine

Write faster, Ms. Caine. Write faster.

[A.J.]

41: Death Masks by Jim Butcher

Love me some Dresden.

[A.J.]

42: The Merchant of Death (Pendragon, Book 1) by DJ MacHale

Another teen book that talks down to its audience. Or maybe it was just the way the audio book was read. It seemed full of "Then I saw it"'s and "Uh-oh!"'s. This could just be bad writing, I suppose, not talking down, but it felt like the author was consciously presenting these kids as stupider than average, even though they're supposed to be smarter than average. And when I listened to the dialogue, it was hard to tell them all apart-no identities beyond moving the plot forward. I won't be reading Book 2.

[A.J.]

43: Blood Rites by Jim Butcher

Yeah, you all know how I feel about Dresden. Sigh.

[A.J.]

44: The Catcher in the Rye By JD Salinger

This was given to me by a (much younger and male) friend, who proclaimed it his favortie book in the world. I'm a little worried about him, but hopefully he'll grow out of it.

It is a very interesting book, once I got beyond the protanginist, who is that underage guy in the bar who is sloppy drunk but loudly proclaims he's sober and wants to tell you his life story then yells that he hates you when you excuse yourself. Yick. But the second half of this book made me think, I have to admit. I can't tell if Salinger was writing about himself and had no insight whatsoever, was writing about himself and had tons of insight, or if he was just being purely ironic.

Am I glad I read it? Yes. Would I read it again? No.

[A.J.]

45: Naked in Death by JD Robb

[A.J.]

46: Twilight by Stephanie Meyers

Wow. Just wow. And not really in a good way...

[A.J.]

47: Book of the Dead by Patricia Cornwell

[A.J.]

48: Duma Key by Stephen Key

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49: Dead Beat by Jim Butcher

[A.J.]

50: Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas