Rumpelteazer's 2016 Challenge

[Bianca]

The Romanov Conspiracy by Glenn Meade.
I was looking for an adventure thriller with an archaeological theme. This wasn't it. I starts in the modern day, where an archaeologist finds frozen bodies in Russia and wonders if they're the Romanovs and goes in search of the truth, which brings her to Ireland. From there the story if firmly set in the 1910s, around the time the Romanovs are killed and there is an attempt to save them. Only in the last chapter does the story return to modern day to tie up the loose ends. It wasn't a bad story, I'm just not into stories set during war time. So this one wasn't really for me, though not so much that I abandoned it.

[Bianca]

Thunderhead by Douglas Preston.
Like the books Preston wrote in collaboration with Lincoln Child this one is an entertaining and captivating story. It was really the type of story I was in the mood for: an archaeological adventure thriller.

Before this one I started reading Hanging Hill by Mo Hayder, but a third of the way in I realized I just wasn't in the mood for a gritty police thriller. It's a good book and I will finish it, but for now I need easier reads.

[Bianca]

Mistral Bed and Breakfast by Darcy Coates.
Fun short horror story, released for Halloween.

The Calling by Inger Ash Wolfe.
Interesting crime thriller, set in Canada. I will probably continue with this series.

American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst by Jeffrey Toobin.
I've heard of Patty Hearst, but never knew what happened to her. Very interesting.

The Blood House by Amy Cross
Shorter horror story. Okay, could have been developed into a longer story with a better background story.

DNF'ed for now:
Hanging Hill by Mo Hayder.
A good enough story, but too gritty for my current mood. Chances are I will finish/start again this book in the future.

[Bianca]

No Wind of Blame by Georgette Heyer.
Meh, too slow for my taste.

[Bianca]

The Obsession by Nora Roberts.
Nora Roberts stand alone book are my guilty pleasure, I realized. I'm not a fan of romance. I can tolerate it as part of story set in a different genre, as long as it isn't the main point of the story. Her serialized books have too much romance in them, and if it was any other author I wouldn't like her stand alone books either. But I love her way of writing. This one was a mystery and I figured out who the bad guy was before there was a mystery. But I didn't mind it, I just love her writing (though only a couple of books a year for me will be enough).

[Bianca]

A good week this week:

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson.
A fun account of his attempt to walk the Appalachian Trail.

Mary Russell's War: A Journal of the Great War by Laurie R. King.
A novella. Okay, but not vital for the series.

The Haunting of Blackwych Grange by Amy Cross.
A fun and surprisingly easy to read horror story. It did have some basic spelling issues (e.g. names spelled wrong) that should have been picked up by an editor.

I've now finished two of the planned four non-fiction books for November and December. I don't know if I will read another two; December is always very busy and I prefer easy reads. Also Christmas and New Year's Day are on days that the store is normally closed, so no extra days off this year I can spend reading.

[Bianca]

The Codex by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child.
A fun adventure thriller. Uncomplicated, as usual for Preston & Child, and a quick read. At the moment I seem to need to read comfort reads; easy and fun. I'm especially drawn to adventure thrillers and horror.

Just 708 pages and I've reached my goal of 40000 pages, even for December that is an easy target.

Meanwhile, with only 6,5 weeks to go until my vacation it's time to start thinking about what to read. Since my apartment has a bath I will also need a paper book. It'll probably be one of those Mammoth Books of Horror, or Ghost Stories.

[Bianca]

I've just treated myself to a bit of a spending spree and bought a bunch of book on Amazon.

Only now that I've loaded them on my Kindle do I notice how many first-in-a-series books I've gotten. I think I'm going to make a separate collection for them, and keep my series collection for active series.

Also, most of the books are horrors or ghost stories. Just what I'm in the mood for!

[DoodlePanda]

I have a separate folder for "first in a series" on my Kindle so that I know before I start reading them that it might be a long term thing :)

[Bianca]

I have Calibre put the number of the book in front of the title when uploading it to my Kindle. But my list of number 1s had gotten long and, as my grandfather used to say, I'm rather lazy than tired and was fed up with scrolling through the list to get to the active series books.

I hope it will also prevent me from picking out a new series instead of getting on with my active series.

[Bianca]

Deeper by Jeff Long.
The sequel to The Descent, which I read last year. At the time I didn't know there was a sequel. A very good book, very different from the first book and you know right from the start that the ending will most likely be less than a happy one.

Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand.
Coined as a "novel of unexpected terror". Yeah, not really. I'm all for leaving things for the imagination of reader (or viewers of films, for that matter), but this one took that a little bit too far and it fell flat for me. Much more could have been done to make the manor scarier, you just get a hint of that something is not right, but it could have been used a lot more effectively and made a character of the house itself. The same for the ending, although it wouldn't have been a bad ending if the background story of the house and grounds were explored at all.

[Bianca]

The Cabin by Matt Shaw.
Short horror story. Not really my thing, though the twist at the end was unexpected. I might read the second instalment, because it promises an asylum (and I'm a sucker for haunted asylums). Plus, it's another short read.

The Kept Woman by Karin Slaughter.
The latest instalment in the Will Trent series doesn't disappoint. The situation with his on-and-mostly-off-again wife comes to an explosive climax (finally).

Finishing these two book means not only that I've passed my goal of 40000 pages (yay), but I've also passed the number of pages I've read last year (double yay), which I hadn't expected with me having a reading funk for the last couple of months. I'm now out of the reading funk, but it being December I have less reading time than at other times of the year (upside is that saving for a new laptop goes a lot quicker).

[Bianca]

Uniform Justice by Donna Leon.
Maybe it's because it's the first Brunetti book I've read in a year and a half but I liked this book better than the previous instalments.

Now I'm in the mood for something epic. I've decided to read Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton. I really liked Great North Road, which I read last year. Because it's very busy at the store at the moment I'm not sure if I'll manage to finish it before the end of the year. If not, it'll be a nice start for 2017.

[Bianca]

I've found another one:
The Teacher is listed on Amazon as "The Teacher: A shocking and compelling new crime thriller - NOT for the faint-hearted!"

No matter how good the review, I automatically skip books with these types of sub-titles.

[Bianca]

And another one.
And the next one.
And a third one.

And I found another bunch, without even trying, but I can't be bothered to post them. Most of the have a variety of "with a twist you did NOT see coming" or is assuring you you will not be able to put the book down or that everyone is talking about this book.

Seriously, who every thought it was a good idea to praise a book in its sub-title. It's an epidemic it seems.

[Bianca]

Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton.
I didn't think I would be able to finish it before the end of the year, but I did! Which is very good for my December page count, LOL. A great story, I will be reading the second book in this series sooner rather than later, despite it's 1200 page length.

[Nyssa, Series Addict]

Wow, Bianca! That's all I can say really. Looks like you've had a great reading year.