75 Books...More or Less! discussion
Archive (2019 GR Completed)
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Stacie's 2019 Challenge
46.
Hellbreak Vol. 1 Pure brain candy and I enjoyed every minute of it. A perfect way to spend a Saturday morning.149 pages
4 Stars (well, like 3 and 2/3, but we're rounding up)
47.
Fahrenheit 451 I've read this book several times and never liked it, but I keep rereading it every few years because it's my sister's favorite book ever. This version, narrated by Tim Robbins, isn't terrible.5 hrs 1 min
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Fahrenheit 451 I've read this book several times and never liked it, but I keep rereading it every few years because it's my sister's favorite..."It's also my favorite book ever. ;)
48.
The Golden Apples Of The Sun I love Ray Bradbury's short stories. This isn't my favorite collections, though it contains The Fog Horn which is one of my favorite stories. I was fortunate enough to go the opening of a play that he presented and to the small signing he held afterward and can say that I have hyperventilated in a room that contained the man himself, lol. I've gone to other signings and had brushes with other stars without losing my cool... but this was Ray Bradbury. There was no cool.247 pages
4 stars
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The Golden Apples Of The Sun I love Ray Bradbury's short stories. This isn't my favorite collections, though it contains The Fog H..."*gasp* That is AMAZING.
50.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story I'm a sucker for novelizations but, honestly, they aren't usually very good. This was a pleasant surprise. The writing is solid, the narrator is good and the background sound effects added actually enhance the production instead of coming across as cheesy or distracting (well, they might be distracting if you've never watched any Star Wars).12 hrs 7 mins
4 Stars
51.
Into the Drowning Deep I was surprisingly riveted to this. It's your basic sci-fi/horror sea monster tale, solidly told with some great descriptions and some nice turns of phrase. The ending wasn't super strong, but it wasn't disappointing either. My only real complaints have to do with the narration and not the writing (mispronunciations, some annoying character voices and some truly abysmal attempts at accents)... and I still used every possible moment to jump back into the story and begrudged every interruption.17 hrs 15 mins
4 stars
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Into the Drowning Deep I was surprisingly riveted to this. It's your basic sci-fi/horror sea monster tale, solidly told with some grea..."Wow, it's a long one too! Ugh mispronunciations and bad accents? No bueno! I will skip the audio for this one then.
Elyse wrote: "Wow, it's a long one too! Ugh mispronunciations and bad accents? No bueno! I will skip the audio for this one then...."It's weird, because I should have hated the audio. Those things are usually enough to get me to slam down on the stop button and go find a print version... but not with this one. The bad accents were not main characters and didn't get too much 'screen time'... and to be honest here, Christine Lakin voices characters I like in a video game I've spent probably a hundred hours playing, so when she reused those voices here it likely made me more forgiving than I would usually be. I'll never be able to see Dr. Toth as anything but an Asari, though, lol.
52.
Heir to the Empire Sometimes revisiting things you loved as a teenager is a mistake. This was one of those times. I had to switch from the audiobook to the print version less than a tenth of the way in because the narrator's voices for Han and Leia were just sooo baaaaad. That helped, but this "Icon of the Expanded Universe" just didn't do anything for me. 2 Stars
434 pages
53.
End of Watch As much as I love Stephen King, this is a book that didn't need to be written. Mr. Mercedes was good, but should have been a stand-alone. Finders Keepers, the second book, was pretty good too (it kind of unravelled towards the end and felt more like a Koontz book than a King book) but there was no need for the 'good guys' to be Hodges and Co. because their parts were kind of generic. The third book? Well, I'm probably going to shelve it in the "let's pretend this never happened" corner of my brain where I keep Star Trek Enterprise, Mass Effect 3 and other bad additions to things that I have otherwise loved.2 stars
449 pages
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End of Watch As much as I love Stephen King, this is a book that didn't need to be written. Mr. Mercedes was good, but should ha..."Yesssss, there did not need to be a trilogy!
54.
The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms Light, easy, moderately interesting. The narration of the audiobook elevated an OK book to an OK+ book. Not sorry I read it, probably not going to remember very much of it.3 stars
6 hrs 2 mins
June's Totals:11 Titles
1,906 pages
40 hrs 25 mins
Year to Date totals:
54 Titles
7,333 pages
399 hrs 12 mins
55.
The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two A: The Greatest Science Fiction Novellas of All Time Chosen by the Members of The Science Fiction Writers of America4 stars
529 pages
56.
The History of the Renaissance World: From the Rediscovery of Aristotle to the Conquest of Constantinople 5 stars
21 hrs 11 mins
57.
Turn Right at Machu Picchu There were some chuckle-out-loud moments and by the end of it I was going "I'd like to go there some day", which is my definition of a good travelogue. I'd give it a solid 3 and a half stars if halves were an option, but for Goodreads I'm rounding up.4 Stars
10 hrs 9 mins
58.
Romeo and Juliet A good dramatized version with helpful commentary, though not my favorite in the series.4 Stars
8 hrs 8 mins
60.
The Silk Roads: A New History of the World This wound up being very good. The first chapter or so was frustrating as the author spent the introduction detailing his early fascination with places and points of view not covered in his school curriculum... and then spent the next hour rehashing the exact same things covered in every other book about the subject. After that, however, we started getting new angles and conclusions to 'chew' on. It's not a perfect book (there were a couple of minor mistakes that I caught) and not perfect narration (several times the narrator's use of generic 'ethnic' accents when quoting documents or correspondence made me wince a little) but overall it was good and a worthwhile read.4 stars
24 hrs 13 mins
61.
Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere It's a pretty good retelling of a very good story. It lacks the depth and surreal charm of the original... but it's easier to follow and digest, too. The art was good; though several characters were not even close to what I'd pictured when reading Neverwhere (
) , the backgrounds and settings were perfect.3 Stars
224 pages
July's Totals:8 Titles
1,332 pages
63 hrs 41 mins
Year to Date totals:
62 Titles
8,665 pages
462 hrs 53 mins
63.
1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created This was good though harder for me to get into than his other book, 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus. They switched narrators, and while Robertson Dean has a deep, rich voice he speaks so slowly! Once I sped it up, I enjoyed it more. 4 stars
17 hrs 46 mins
64.
Nightlights Cute art, ok story, nothing outstanding. Seems a lot younger than it's target (middle-school) audience.2 stars
56 pages
65.
Anya's Ghost The art was serviceable and supported the story. The one thing I didn't like was the choice to print Russian words in Cyrillic- yes, it lets you know immediately that the characters are immigrants but it yanks the reader right out of the story.4 stars
224 pages
66.
Suee and the ShadowNot my favorite art style, but the creepy story stayed with me.4 stars
244 pages
67.
A Study in Scarlet I'm embarrassed to admit that I've never actually read any Sherlock Holmes- I've seen every movie and t.v. show, but never read the source material! I'm glad this was not my introduction to the character, though, because I didn't much care for this story. The abrupt 'flashback' break was particularly jarring. I actually checked to see if it was an error in the digital copy.2 stars
123 pages
68.
The Sign of the Four I liked this one MUCH better :) 4 stars
184 pages
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A Study in Scarlet I'm embarrassed to admit that I've never actually read any Sherlock Holmes- I've seen every movie and t.v. show, but never ..."Eeep...ditto! But I plan on listening to the complete one narrated by the one and only Stephen Fry. I think it shall be enjoyable for that sole reason if nothing else. :)
Elyse wrote: "... I plan on listening to the complete one narrated by the one and only Stephen Fry. ."I've got the complete collection narrated by Stephen Fry, too (I love Audible). But since I hadn't 'read' any of them myself I wanted to read some to set my own mental voice before I listened to someone else read them. Even Stephen Fry :) I'm thinking about reading the novels in print (I have three of the four) and listening to the short stories. Haven't decided, though.
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I've got the complete collection narrated by Stephen Fry, too (I love Audible). But since I h..."
Ahhh that's a good idea. To make your own impression first. I think I own the free e-books of the Holmes collection.
I read all the Holmes novels a few years ago, but I still need to read the short stories. In general, I'm not usually a big fan of short stories, but I have the feeling that in this case they'll work better than novels (I was also not a huge fan of the cut-away that feels like a different story).The Hound of the Baskervilles was my favorite.
Charleen wrote: "I read all the Holmes novels a few years ago, but I still need to read the short stories. In general, I'm not usually a big fan of short stories, but I have the feeling that in this case they'll wo..."I can recommend the collected works read by Stephen Fry- it's ridiculously long (almost 63 hours!), but he's a fantastic narrator and I like his introductions. I read three of the novels but am listening to the short stories and the last novel.
70.
Internment Wow... just... wow. This is a Wookie book. It's hard to say whether I liked it or not; this book isn't about liking. It's powerful and feels real, though, and I cried most of the way through.5 Stars
400 pages
71.
The Valley of Fear (1915 Illustrated Edition): 100th Anniversary Collection I'm glad that I'm reading these books in order; you can actually see ACD evolving as a writer. For example his use of the 'flashback', while not exactly my favorite part of the novel, is handled much better than it was in A Study in Scarlet and his movement from one part of the frame narrative it another is much smoother. (I'm a huge wordnerd and that kind of thing makes me happy)3 Stars
172 pages
72.
Sherlock Holmes: The Definitive Audio Collection An excellent collection. The majority of the stories were very good (as in any collection there were some duds) and Stephen Fry is an amazing narrator. Highly recommended, just beware... it's long! (the full program is almost 63 hours!) Since I only listened to the short stories in the collection (I read the novels) I'm I'm adjusting the time in my tracking to reflect what I actually listened to.4 Stars
43 hrs 21 mins
August's Totals:10 Titles
1,324 pages
61 hrs 7 mins
Year to Date totals:
72 Titles
9,989 pages
524 hrs
73.
The Tales of Beedle the Bard I liked this a lot more the second time I read it. (I think that the first time I wanted it to be something it wasn't- more Harry Potter- and I wasn't in a mindset to take it for itself.) 4 Stars
111 pages
Mod
75.
Frostbite A fast, enjoyable read. At first, I wasn't sure I was going to like the art (there's a rough, sketchy element to it that I don't usually take to) but it worked well for the story- It's never difficult to differentiate characters and it did a good job of conveying the bleak landscape and uncertain visibility. It would adapt well to film, but would probably only be made by the SyFy chanel, lol.4 stars
144 pages
And with that, I'm doing a little happy dance :) I haven't hit my main goal of 100 yet, but I did just beat my secondary one: I have officially read more pages and listened for more hours than I did last year! It's been a good year of reading for me (and most things have been pretty good so far) and I still have almost 4 months to hit the main goal. I should probably try to focus on some of my physical TBR mountain because that goal is... not going quite so well, lol!
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Frostbite A fast, enjoyable read. At first, I wasn't sure I was going to like the art (there's a rough, sketchy element to it that I don't usually ..."Woohoo!
76.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them This is something that I've put off reading for ages, because I was pretty much convinced that it was a lame money grab. Then the movie came out... and I hated it. But, it was available through the library and I needed an HP fix, so, there you have it! the text and illustrations were cute, and it kept the whimsical feel of the world. I'm glad I finally got around to it (and I will probably own it at some point). Maybe I'll check to see if Quidditch Through the Ages is available.4 Stars
128 pages
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Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them This is something that I've put off reading for ages, because I was pretty mu..."They're cute lil things! I did just buy the new ones, History of Magic Journey Through... but I haven't read them yet.
77.
Quidditch Through the Ages Ok, that was really cute, too. Looks like I have a couple of things to add to my physical collection- at least they don't take up much room and proceeds go to good causes :) 4 Stars
128 pages
78.
Elevation I'm so sad. I wanted to like this so much- I mean, it's Stephen King! Elevation isn't badly written, it's worse than that. It's the most boring, lack-luster, so-what-was-the-point thing I've read in a while. Where's the character arc? Where's the drama? Where's the point? This actually makes me hesitate to pick up The Institute, because I've been let down by much of the new King and it just keeps getting worse. Sad Stacie is sad :(2 Stars
160 pages
Mod
Elevation I'm so sad. I wanted to like this so much- I mean, it's Stephen King! Elevation isn't badly written, it's worse than that..."I feel like page count is a good indicator for a good King novel and this was somewhere between a novella and a novel. The Institute is a big one so I have high hopes! Sorry you didn't like it. It reminded me of Thinner.
79.
The Tide I started my 'Halloween' monsterfest a little early :) This was fun, a solid action/monster story- not the best in the genre but definitely not the worst! It flowed well and moved quickly, and I could see it being adapted for the screen... but I'm not sure the story is quite as strong as the author seems to think. He carries it on for 9 more books! I did enjoy it, but not quite that much, lol. It ends at a good 'resting' place and I'm not convinced that I need to pick up the next book in the series. We'll see, though- they are all on KindleUnlimited so never say never! 3 Stars
392 pages
80.
Jungle of Stone: The Extraordinary Journey of John L. Stephens and Frederick Catherwood, and the Discovery of the Lost Civilization of the Maya This was a long book (16.5 hours) made even longer by the fact that it was so unfocused. It could have been more honestly titled "The Extraordinary Journey(s) of John L. Stephens and Frederick Catherwood (as well as those of a bunch of other people who were only tangentially involved- if at all- with them), and the 'Discovery' of the Lost Civilization of the Maya (as Well as a Bunch of Other Stuff Before and After That Doesn't Have Much Bearing on the Stated Subject: or, All the Things I Found Out While I Was Not Finding Out What I Meant to Research). When I finished it my first thought was, literally, "Finally! Thank God that's done", which I'm pretty sure is not what the author intended. The narrator had a nice voice (although his various English and German accents were pretty bad and inconsistent) and his pronunciations of place names (mostly) were good; he gets kudos for that.3 Stars (I rounded up because what was on point was compelling)
16 hrs 35 min
75 Books...More or Less!
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150 pages
4 stars