Matthew's list for 2010

[Matthew]

Hopefully I'll have a much more productive reading year this year as opposed to last year. School got in the way of the reading, if you can fathom it! Anyway, here's start of the new year!

#1-Witch & Wizard

[Matthew]

#2- Fangland: A Novel
Overall, an interesting take on the vampire horror sub-genre. My full review is on my profile.

[Matthew]

#3- Category 7 by Bill Evans

An interesting, if not spectacular novel about how messing around with Mother Nature's a bad thing.

[Matthew]

#4- Club Dead by Charlaine Harris

[Matthew]

#5- The President's Assassin by Brian Haig

Amazing. I'll be searching for more of Mr. Haig's novels.

[Matthew]

#6- Three Days to Never: A Novel by Tim Powers

I was thoroughly impressed, and can't wait for some half-assed director to come along and screw this one up badly.

[Matthew]

#7- Sagmeister: Made You Look by Stefan Sagmeister

Being a Graphic Designer, the name Stefan Sagmeister is said with almost a religious intonation. So when I saw this compilation of all his works sitting there on the shelf, I immediately grabbed it up, took it home, and inhaled it in one sitting. I am a happy, happy man.

[Matthew]

#8- Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk

The master of the unreliable narrative delivers in spades. Never a dull moment in this novel, but one thing rubs me the wrong way about this: It is indeed a small world, but THIS small? But I enjoyed it nonetheless.

[Matthew]

#9- Relentless by Dean Koontz

I liked this book; the characters were classic Koontz and the settings were wonderful, but the foreshadowing was heavy handed in service of the "twist" ending; I want to spend more time with the characters, but let's try going back to true suspense, okay Mr. Koontz?

[Matthew]

#10- Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris

I'm liking this series, despite the author's sometimes glaring foibles.

[Maeghan]

Matthew wrote: "#10- Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris

I'm liking this series, despite the author's sometimes glaring foibles."

I felt the same way. It's not the best writing in the world, but certainly not the worst! The books are kind of like clothes from Old Navy-cheap and easy.

[Connie]

Maeghan wrote: "Matthew wrote: "#10- Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris

I'm liking this series, despite the author's sometimes glaring foibles."

I felt the same way. It's not the ..."

Good way to put it. I like both the books and the HBO series, but sometimes the dialogue is just soooo ridiculous, but somehow, she keeps the story moving that I don't lose interest inspite of her prose.

[Matthew]

Maeghan wrote: "Matthew wrote: "#10- Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris

I'm liking this series, despite the author's sometimes glaring foibles."

I felt the same way. It's not the ..."

Yeah, I love her stories enough to keep reading even though the woman could use a few more creative writing courses. It's like she's good despite herself.

[Matthew]

So I'm in the middle of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, and it's a wonderful bit of prose thus far. I hear it really goes downhill the last 60 pages, but then it IS an American retelling of Hamlet, so a happy ending just isn't in the cards. I love the way David Wroblewski writes, I don't think I've ever read a 580 page novel so quickly. Were it not for school and the rush to complete all the projects as this quarter comes to a close, I'd be through this thing already. As it is, I'll have some catching up to do over the break.

[Matthew]

#11- Jennifer Love Hewitt Times Infinity by Kevin Fanning

A fantastic and fantastical collection of short stories involving technology, mysticism, and everyone's favorite ghost whisperer.

[Matthew]

#12- The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski.

Beautiful prose, nearly wasted in the third act.

[Matthew]

#13- Under the Dome by Stephen King

I loved this book. At 1000+ pages, it wasn't nearly long enough.

[Matthew]

#14 Structural Packaging by Josep M. Garrofe

I struggled with whether to include my textbooks in my 50 books for the year, but seeing as I'm spending 10 weeks a year with these books, I'm damn well going to get the credit for reading them.

[Matthew]

#15- Visual Literacy: A Conceptual Approach to Graphic Problem Solving by Judith Wilde

As a designer, I love this book precisely for it's purpose: to jump-start your creative side, and get it working in tandem with your right brain.

[Carol]

Matthew said: #14 Structural Packaging by Josep M. Garrofe

"I struggled with whether to include my textbooks in my 50 books for the year, but seeing as I'm spending 10 weeks a year with these books, I'm damn well going to get the credit for reading them."

That's the spirit! And you just might get someone interested in reading non-fiction, too. I've already seen some highly specialized tomes that I would at least give a look-see to, posted on these threads...quite stimulating. And isn't that one of the purposes of taking all this trouble to log our books...so that we can share new ideas with others?

[Matthew]

#16- Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow

The best werewolf book I've read in a long time. I want to read it again, highlighter in hand, to capture all the wonderful quotes contained within.

[Matthew]

#17- Big Medicine by Louis L'Amour

Of all the writers who try to capture the authentic feel of the American Old West, Louis L'Amour does it best.