100 books in 2011 discussion
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Marcy
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Marcy
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Jan 02, 2011 08:48AM
1. A Play of Dux Moraud by Margaret Frazer
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2. Deal Breaker by Harlan CobenI've wanted to read this series for some time and found the first book enjoyable. It was a quick read, light enough to get me 3/4 through Gray Lady Down which I was reading at the same time. I alternated DB and GLD, as GLD is quite dry plus it got me irritated enough in places that I needed a break.
3. Gray Lady Down: The Decline and Fall of the New York Times by William McGowanSad and depressing to see concrete examples of the decline of the paper I grew up with and once respected.
5. A Game of Thrones by George R.R. MartinI don't know what to think of this book. It was so continually a downer and with no closure at the end I'm just left with a nagging sense of despair. Do I have to wade through 3 more long books as endlessly depressing to get to the end of this story? And do I really want to?
6. Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers
A nice light read, especially after slogging through the 800 pages of A Game of Thrones. I enjoyed the story and the mystery even though I figured much of it out, which I usually don't.
7. A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin1000 more depressing pages. I don't know why I'm continuing with this series. It's almost like roadkill—you don't want to slow down and look but you always do.
8. Heidi's Children by Charles TrittenA further sequel to the classic Heidi by Johanna Spyri. Drivel based on a wildly improbably coincidence.
9. Acorna: The Unicorn Girl by Anne McCaffrey and Margaret Ball
I've read almost all of McCaffrey's other works so thought I'd give this a try. An easy read and mildly enjoyable. Not as good as McCaffrey's solo works, I suspect because she only gave the outline and Ball did the actual writing.
10. Burglars Can't Be Choosers by Lawrence BlockA fun read where a burglar has to become a detective and solve a crime. Fun also to see how different things were only 35 years ago, in the 70s. The story would be so different if written today!
11. Acorna's Quest by Anne McCaffreyAnother McCaffrey book I'm torn about. Some parts were brilliant and engrossing and others were...not. In particular all of the attempted humor, especially among the Linyarii, was totally lame and made me want to cringe.
12. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg LarssonI'm probably the last person in the world to read this book, but it was worth the wait. A great thriller.
Marcy wrote: "12. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg LarssonI'm probably the last person in the world to read this book, but it was worth the wait. A great thriller."
No you're not......lol. I still haven't read that one yet. I'll get to it eventually.
Robyn wrote: "its still on my list of to read books... its pretty far down there though so maybe by december i will have read it"i hear you, i still have 260 books before i even think about this one...lol. that's why i said eventually...lol
I bought it in December 2009, so it took me a while to get to it too...My TBR list is over 500 books.
Marcy wrote: "I bought it in December 2009, so it took me a while to get to it too...My TBR list is over 500 books."
wow, now i don't feel so bad when my list keeps growing...lol...i added like 8 books since my last post. but i'm not at 500 yet....lol
13. Sanctuary by Faye KellermanThis is the seventh installment in Kellerman's Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus series. I have enjoyed all the prior books and this one was no exception. It was a very gripping story marred only by what I thought was a too pat way in which Decker solves the mystery. Despite that I enjoyed it very much.
14. A Play of Knaves by Margaret Frazer
This is #3 in the Joliffe series. This time it's Lady Lovell who sends the players to investigate rumors of something awry in the domain of her friend the abbess. As usual Joliffe and company ferret out the problem and solve a murder or two.
Entertaining medieval cozy.
15. The Last Camel Died at Noon by Elizabeth PetersNumber 6 in the Amelia Peabody series. I found this story a bit disappointing as the storyline really strained my credulity past the breaking point. I really enjoyed the other 5 entries I've read much more than this one.
16. The Snake, the Crocodile and the Dog by Elizabeth PetersAnother disappointing installment in the Amelia Peabody series. I'm going to lay off these a bit and hope the next few pick up again.
17. Overthrowing Heaven by Mark L. Van NameThe third installment in the Jon & Lobo series. Another good read and we learn more about Lobo's past. Also a nice twist in the ending that surprised me. And a not so nice twist as well.
-- Sentence of Marriage by Shayne ParkinsonI've given up on this one, at least temporarily. It got good reviews on both Smashwords and Mobileread, but I've found it to be totally trite with the textbook wicked stepmother and oblivious father. Perhaps it gets better later on, but I can't bear any more right now.
18. Cult Insanity: A Memoir of Polygamy, Prophets, and Blood Atonement by Irene SpencerI don't know why I'm fascinated by this story, but this is the third book I've read about the LeBaron clan. The first was Irene Spencer's Shattered Dreams: My Life as a Polygamist's Wife which told the story of her life of neglect and drudgery as a polygamist's wife. The second was His Favorite Wife: Trapped in Polygamy by Susan Schmidt, a telling of the same story but from the view of one of Irene's sister wives.
This book gave full details of the insanity rampant through the LeBaron family, that Irene Spencer left out of Shattered Dreams. This is a true case of reality being more than any fiction. Disturbing yet compelling reading.
19. Just Don't Fall by Josh SundquistI think I'm getting very critical, but I found this autobiography a disappointment. I enjoyed the first half but the second half just fell flat and seemed to ramble all over the place. And the ending just left me saying, "Huh?". I literally got to the acknowledgement page and thought I had accidentally paged past the last chapter and went searching for it.
20. Time for the Stars by Robert A. HeinleinI was shocked to discover this Heinlein book I'd never read while browsing B&N online yesterday. I gobbled these down during my childhood and would save my allowance to buy the paperbacks. I searched them out everywhere I could get to — the B. Dalton that was in walking distance, the library, and the used bookstore I'd beg my Mom to drive me to whenever I had spare money.
This was a typical Heinlein juvenile. It sort of was a combo of Starman Jones and The Door into Summer. I found this to be one of his weaker books and found the ending a bit bizarre.
21. Fellowship of Fear by Aaron ElkinsNumber one in the Gideon Oliver series. Super-dated with cold war era Russian spies and a seriously 70s attitude towards women (even though first published in 1982). Also strains at the credulity in many places. Yet a sort of fun read and I will try further items in the series to see if it matures.
22. Swords and Deviltry by Fritz LeiberBook #1 of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. I'm not sure what I thought of this. It had a very "A Game of Thrones" feel. It wasn't as gut-wrenching and drawn out as GoT but the events were still pretty awful for the protagonists. At least this book did have closure of a sorts.
I will try the next book in the series to see if things pick up.
23. Trickle Up Poverty: Stopping Obama's Attack on Our Borders, Economy, and Security by Michael SavageI've read this book over the past few weeks. It raises my blood pressure so much I can only read a chapter at a time, in between other books I'm reading. I'm happy I finished it, but yet I'm not totally happy I read it.
24. A Play of Lords by Margaret FrazerJoliffe series #4. It's the Autumn of 1435 and things aren't going well in London. There's unease with the French and the Duke of Burgundy. Joliffe's keen eye gets him embroiled in the political machinations of various Lords.
This was an odd installment in this series. It was less a cozy and more a sort of historical 15th century political intrigue novel.
25. The Book Thief by Markus ZusakA strange book. I'm not sure what I thought about it. I found Death's (the narrator) constant intrusion into the story irritating.
Even though this was a hefty book at 600+ pages, I see why it was classified as teen literature. For a story about the Holocaust and Germany during WWII I wasn't very emotional about it, despite being Jewish and having family that were murdered in Hungary during the Holocaust. A Game of Thrones disturbed me much more and was set in a fictional world that I have no connection to.
26. Lucy by Laurence GonzalesWarning: some mild spoilers in this.
I put this on my library waitlist some time ago and it just came up. I had a vague idea what it was about but didn't really remember. It managed to surprise me twice. I originally thought it would be a classic thriller with the goodies working to escape from the big bad baddies but it started out more as a social commentary and how the world reacted to Lucy. Then it surprised me again by turning into the classic thriller.
On the whole it was an entertaining read, although I was unsatisfied with one bit of the ending. I read for entertainment and there was one pretty downer part that I could have done without.
27. Body Traffic by Rita Toews & Alex DomokosThis indie book wasn't in the goodreads database. It was a good thriller/suspense novel marred by poor formatting, ocr errors and a too rushed ending. It was good enough that I'd read Checkmate, the sequel advertised in the back of the book, except I can't find that it's available anywhere as an ebook.
28. The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill#1 in the Dr. Siri series. Dr. Siri is a septuagenarian coroner in Laos during the 70s just after the successful Communist revolution. He is a reluctant coroner, having no training or experience who was "rewarded" with the job by the Communist party.
This was a wonderful book on many levels. The viewpoint of most people in the book is so different from what we automatically think. They don't yearn for democracy and Americans. The 70s Laotian atmostphere was very interesting.
The one negative for me was the bizarre supernatural happenings throughout the book. It gave the story an air of unreality to me and I think I would have enjoyed it more without them.
29. Storm Front by Jim ButcherNumber one in the Dresden files series. I'd heard a lot of good stuff about this series, but was really disappointed in this book. I can't point to any one bad thing, but I just didn't find it gripping and found most of it ridiculous. Fantasy/sci-fi is one of my favorite genres so it's not like I have problems with suspension of disbelief.
I'll probably give #2 a try eventually to see if things improve, since I have heard a lot of good about the series.
30. Wish You Were Here by Rita Mae BrownNumber one in the Mrs. Murphy series. I really enjoyed this cozy about a rural postmistress with a mystery solving cat and dog.
My only complaint was frequent POV changes with no delineations. I don't know if this is a problem due to poor ebook formatting or if it is the same in the pbook edition.
31. Rest in Piecess by Rita Mae Brown
Number two in the Mrs. Murphy series. Again, an enjoyable cozy, although I'd avoid Crozet, Virginia if I were you. Just like Cabot Cove, it has an alarming amount of murders for a small, rural town!
Similar to #1 this book also had disconcerting and unannounced POV changes. Again I can't say if this is only due to poor ebook formatting or is in the pbook version as well.
32. A Play of Treachery by Margaret FrazerNumber 5 in the Joliffe series. A departure from the prior books as Joliffe is sent to France to be a spy by the players new lord.
As interesting as the prior books in terms of medieval atmosphere and a good mystery, but I really missed the players. Joliffe was always the main character but I enjoyed the interaction of the group and the comfort of characters I had come to know. I didn't enjoy it as much as the other books as a result.
33. A Play of Lords by Margaret FrazerJoliffe #6. After his aventures in France Joliffe returns to England and the players. Basset, the head of the troupe, has been hospitalized due to a flare of his rheumatics, forcing the players to get jobs to support themselves in the meantime.
Joliffe works in the hospital where there is of course a murder and a mystery he helps solve.
I still miss the interaction of the players, as most of the troupe is off-screen for much of the story. This was an interesting story as I didn't even know there were hospitals in medieval times. Definitely an enjoyable read, but I look forward to #7 and hope the players are back on the road together.
34. THE TOR by Liza Granville
This was a bizarre post-apocalyptic/fantasy combo from the wonderful BeWrite books. I didn't really enjoy it and in particular never had much interest in the characters. There was a secret about one character that I guessed almost immediately.
The ending was interesting and thoughtful, but the lack of any depth to the characters in the story really made it uninteresting to me. To care about the story you should care about the characters, and I just didn't.
35. Turn About Eleanor by Ethel M. KelleyWhen I finished the last book, I didn't have access to my computer to flip through calibre and pick what I wanted to read next. I decided I would just choose something randomly from the reader and finish it no matter what.
I had no clue what this was. Turns out it is a public domain book I must have gotten from Gutenberg years ago when I got my first reader.
Six young, rich people in NYC decide to adopt an orphan and raise her cooperatively. They plan to each have her for 2 months of the year. The story was ridiculous and dated. It took me forever to finish because I really wasn't that interested. And the ending was lame.
36. Track of the Cat by Nevada Barr37. The Best Kind of Different: Our Family's Journey with Asperger's Syndrome by Shonda Schilling
38. A Superior Death by Nevada Barr
Shonda Schilling's book details her family's struggle with their young son, both before and after his diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome. A good book for anyone interested in the topic, as well as some behind-the-scenes of Major League Baseball tidbits
The two Nevada Barr books are #1 and #2 of the Anna Pigeon series, about a National Park Ranger who solves mysteries/murders that occur at her parks. Anna is another Jessica Fletcher-esque character—I wouldn't want to visit any park she was stationed at.
I really thought I'd love these books. They have everything I like in a cozy—strong female character and interesting settings and backgrounds. However, I really wasn't able to get into them. They're why my reading slowed dramatically this week, as I just really had no urge to pick up my e-reader and read them (in contrast I started Schilling's book while I was in the midst of Anna Pigeon #2 and finished that in one day). Both were pretty convoluted with a ton of characters that I couldn't remember from one scene to the next popping in and out of the story, so perhaps that was it.
39. The Land of Painted Caves by Jean AuelThe sixth and supposedly final book in the Earth's children series.
I've been waiting for this book forever and it was a huge disappointment.
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100 books in 2011
Books mentioned in this topic
The Land of Painted Caves (other topics)Track of the Cat (other topics)
A Superior Death (other topics)
The Best Kind of Different: Our Family's Journey with Asperger's Syndrome (other topics)
Turn About Eleanor (other topics)
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