Romance, Historical or Otherwise discussion
Personal Reading Challenges
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Peytavi's random reading list of 2011
1:
I'm a huge cozy fan, so there's no surprise that I enjoyed this a lot. I don't think it stands out that much, and even when it comes to cozies, I don't mind a challenging mystery. And this wasn't exactly challenging. BUT it was funny with great characters and I enjoyed it while reading it.
Rating: 4 stars
2:
This was hilarious and weird and made no sense whatsoever, which made it even funnier. It's written by the Norwegian author Erlend Loe, who never disappoints me. I didn't like it as much as Doppler, but I didn't expect to either. I read it in one sitting and found myself chuckling all the time. My dog even left the room a couple of times.
Rating: 5
3:
Disappointed... I saved it for a plane trip because I love Keyes and I loved the premise of this book. But man... I think it would've been twice as good if it had been half as long. After finishing it, I felt like I'd read 600 pages of whining. Which I guess I had. Still, I love her writing style and humor and I like the way she makes her characters come alive. Overall and ok book, but I wouldn't recommend it.
Rating: 3
4:
Now this was a funny, cute read. I read it at the beach and the hours just flew by. Nothing genius about it, but I adored it. I found myself smiling all the time and I loved the main character. This is how it is with Meg Cabot, I either love or hate her books. I LOVED The Mediator series, hated the Princess diaries.
Rating: 5
5:
Pretty solid mystery, loved it.
Rating: 4 stars
6:
I didn't read the book, but I listened to the audio version read by Eliza Dushku, who just happens to be one of my favorite actresses. I love her voice and I loved her reading of the book. The author uses beautiful words to describe things, and even though I thought there was too much walking and talking, I still enjoyed it. Guess we'll never know if I would have liked it as much if I'd just read the book like a normal person, but either way I gave it 4 stars.
7:
I bought this years ago and just never got around to reading it until now. Now I wish I'd read it earlier because I have no doubt that I would have loved it back then. Now I guess I'm too tired of this genre to be impressed anymore. It didn't bore me, it just didn't intrigue me either. Plus all the metaphors annoyed me. Were they really necessary?! I'm still going to give Uglies a chance, though.
Rating: 2 stars
8:
I expected this to be more suspenseful, so I was kind of disappointed. Especially since I loved The Third Eye. Then again, that was 5 years ago.
Rating: 2 stars
9:
I need to stop expecting all classics to be boring! This one definitely wasn't, it actually turned out to be one of my favorites. It's such a powerful book. I absolutely loved it.
Rating: 5 stars
10:
Oh wow. This is one of the most memorable books I've ever read. It's the kind of book that you either love or hate, and I for one LOVED it. I couldn't put it down.
Rating: 5 stars
11:
This is a series of short mysteries set in Scotland. Overall an ok book, but it bored me a little.
Rating: 3 stars
12:
I didn't like the movie, but I still LOVED the book. It's a beautiful story and my favorite Sparks novel so far.
Warning: Don't read it in public. You WILL cry, and people WILL look at you like you're crazy. As if they've never read a book that made them cry... pffft.
Rating: 5 stars
13:
I'll admit I only read this book because I'm planning on seeing the movie and so I wanted to read the book first. I'm surprised to say that I enjoyed it a lot. We're all familiar with the fairy tale, so of course we know what's going to happen and how it's going to go down. But it was still a sweet, entertaining and enjoyable read.
Rating: 4 stars
14:
I wanted to like this, I really did. I guess it wasn't horrible, I just found it to be a Twilight rip-off full of clichés and I remember wanting to finish it so I could start a new book, but not wanting to pick it up... ok, so maybe I thought it was horrible. Sue me.
Rating: 1 star
15:
Strong, powerful, heart breaking. Loved it. If you've read and liked The Things They Carried, you'll most likely enjoy this too. This is the type of book I always think I won't enjoy, but always end up loving after all.
Rating: 5 stars
16:
Pretty creepy. Yes, in a good way. Still, nothing amazing about it IMO. I probably won't remember reading it in a few years. But I did like it.
Rating: 3 stars
17:
Didn't like the main character. She seemed like a 15 year old, not a 30 year old. I think she was supposed to be charming, but I just found her annoying. And while she was funny at times, the humor seemed forced and the plot was way too predictable EVEN for chick-lit. I could've just finished the book in my head.
Rating: 2 stars
18:
Liked it! It was full of adventure and different. It's actually my first James Patterson... won't be my last.
Rating: 4 stars
19:
Aw, Nick Hornby. You funny man. I loved this from start to finish. Then again, I do have a soft spot for British novels.
Rating: 5 stars
20:
This is Stephen King's son? I never would've guessed. The story started out GREAT. I was so excited and I loved the premise. But it just kept dragging and dragging and nothing ever happened. And when something DID happen, I just didn't really care anymore.
Rating: 2 stars
21:
Loved it and I'm glad I finally got around to reading it. Still, I'm surprised to say that I actually liked the movie better, which is usually not the case. Still recommend it though.
Rating: 4 stars
22:
How does he do it? HOW?! I liked it even better than About a Boy.
Rating: 5 stars
23:
Well, hello new favorite book. This was absolutely hilarious/genius/insane. When Carl Hiaasen described Moore as "a very sick man, in the best sense of the word" he couldn't be more right. This was my first Christopher Moore and I had no idea who he was (hey, I live on an island next to Africa, don't judge), but what caught my attention was that the main character's name was Biff. Or nickname, at least. And why was that interesting? BECAUSE THAT'S _MY_ NICKNAME!! "I'm the Messiah and this is my friend Biff", I almost died laughing every time. Thanks, Moore, for writing a book about me. I enjoyed every single page of it and even called my stepfather to order him to read it because I knew he'd love it. He took my advice (not that I left him much choice) and even finished it before I did! Now I owe him 5 bucks...
Rating: 5 stars obviously
24:
I'm sad to say this didn't live up to my (high) expectations. Still, it wasn't a complete drag. I like that the main character wasn't a complete weak pushover doormat like they so often are in YA novels, which is one of my biggest pet peeves. On the other hand, she was unrealistically dumb sometimes... I liked the book, but I still feel it's a little overhyped.
Rating: 3 stars
25:
This was, just as I expected it to be, hilarious and absurd. It wasn't quite as funny as I had hoped though (as in, I didn't find myself laughing ALL the time, just half of it), but I still had a lot of fun reading it. I'll definitely read the rest of the books and I'm looking forward to it.
Rating: 4 stars
I read your comment about Westerfield's book. I had a hard time with the Uglies series and stopped after the second book. After reading those two and Leviathan, I realized that his writing style isn't my thing. I'm curious to see if it was just the one book you didn't like or if it will end up being him as an author. I know some people that love him.
Ugh, yeah, I've heard a lot of different opinions on Uglies. I'm really curious about it though. The Uglies series seems to be a lot more popular than The Midnighters, so for some reason I'm thinking (or hoping) it will be better.. what is it about his writing style that you don't like?
He's just sort of dry and puts a lot of extra stuff into his books that aren't necessary imo to the plot. I don't need to read 4 pages of what a girl saw when she was on her hoverboard.
My friend told me she didn't care for the uglies but she loves the other series he's written
I'm not that into male authors at all... I really have not found many that i like at all. The seem to be very dry and lacking emotion.
I never really noticed that I read practically all female authors till someone in a topic said something
I have a hard time with male authors too. There are some on my list of favorites, but I find that women focus more on the characters, emotions, and connections. Alot of men authors don't hit on these well and because of that I don't get into the story as much.
I could picture that being a problem, I love characters
I kind of agree with you guys. Books I've read and liked by male authors are mostly humorous, light reads (with the exception of Nicholas Sparks, who I adore). Character development is important! At the same time though, I feel that many female authors make their characters TOO sentitive and talk too much about their emotions. Of course, that can be a good thing when I feel like I can sympathize and actually feel their pain, but otherwise it just makes the character seem weak to me, which is something I can't stand. I love characters who are strong, inspiring, level-headed and witty, but still realistic... not many can pull this off imo. Of course, not everyone tries to either, but too much emotion still puts me off most of the time (says the girl who cried her eyes out while reading The Last Song, heh)
I like Nicholas Sparks too, lol. I haven't read anything of his in a very long time. I have Last Song and Dear John on my to read list. My favorites of his were The Guardian and The Notebook.I do have to say though, I'll never ever think about Nicholas Sparks again without thinking aboutAnna and the French Kiss. The main characters father was DEFINITELY inspired by Nicholas Sparks, in a very funny way.
I agree about women writing women, though. Women do tend to make their female characters all one dimentional. They want their characters to come out as 'strong, free-willed, independant' women, but most of the time they come off as rude and whiney. MOST of the time I can't stand the female characters in a book.
Haha yikes, I have a book coming out in April, I think the main female is spunky and independent, I hope people don't think she's rude!
Hahaha, I was just thinking about how that could have come across. Ottilie, I'm sure she'll be spunky and independant! Female authors are my favorite, even with that critique. I'd much prefer a book with depth and emotion, and I usually get this from female authors.I think the female main-character thing is just an issue for me. I've always said that girls drive me crazy, both literary and in real life. They're just such... girls.
Please don't take what I said that wrong way!
Haha no I agree some of the independence does come off rude in characters. haha same I enjoy the female authors. Haha I don't take that the wrong way Wendy, it's funny I really never anaylzed this stuff till this site I enjoy the go back and thinking of the books I've read. Haha yeah I'm afraid my one story the female character comes off cray, but I tend to write from a male and female point of view to give prepective. Haha don't worry about it Wendy I'm enjoying these anaylizing!! It's intersting!!
Hahah, I'm the same way Wendy. Girls suck. But what really sucks is that guys suck too. Which is why I became a bookworm.I'm sure your book will be great Ottilie! And I love analyzing too.. never thought anything could make me like reading even more than I already do, but then I came across this site :)
Haha I know what you mean, guys really do suck, books save their gender. Haha thanks! Haha I really love this site, I love talking on this site, gives different points that I didn't think of and many new books added to my to read list!
This site really reenergized my reading too. Now I have too many books to read, lol.Boys do suck, lmfao. It especially sucks when a great guy loves a SUCKY girl.
Same! It's going to make me lose every penny I've got though, I buy new books all the time! Then again, there's nothing I'd rather spend my money on :)
My husband just called to ask me why I didn't tell him that I spent 80 dollars at Borders... oopsie... they're havign a store closing sale, what could I do?!
Haha I know my wallet is trying not to kill me as I learn restraint a little for book buying. Ugh! I hate when a sucky girl gets a guy they don't deserve
Haha I blame on going friday Wendy!! The one is closing by me and I want to raid!!!
I got the whole Vampire Academy series, lmfao. The sales are only 20-40% off right now, I plan on going again in a week or two to see if they marked them down even more.
Ahhh I want to pick up the first one!! It's one of the ones I want to pick up!!
I haven't started it yet, but I'm excited to. Everyone talks about how great it is, and it's got a great rating on Goodreads.
I want to read them too! Especially since I've heard great things about the main character, heh :) I hope they're as great as everyone says!
Same everyone keeps raving, but I think I'm only going to pick up the first one jsut to make sure I like it. though I'm excited, I also really want to pick up white cat and see what else is cheap!
Normally I do that too, only buy the first. But the truth is that if I read the first, no matter how much I like it, I'll read the whole thing. So since it was on sale I went ahead and just got them all.
That makes sense, I very well could get there and change my mind if the sale is good enough.
Let us know what you think when you've read the first one!! It's definitely on my wishlist, but I'm still a little skeptical since it's about vampires. I feel like all the new vampire series are just Twilight rip-offs, but I hope I'm wrong.
I am hesitant with vampires since twilight, I want real bloody ones that aren't afraid of riping people apart not sparkle and get de-masclinized. I'm curious about this
That's what scares me too. I hated Twilight, personally, for many reasons, and it's the reason why I kept putting it off. I love Vampires though. When I was a kid I loved Vampire Diaries and when I was in Highschool, and just out of it, I loved Buffy. Twilight was addicting when I was reading it and then I crash landed.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Black Dagger Brotherhood (Top three ongoing series of all time, Outlander, Black Dagger Brotherhood, and Fever series).
And it's gotten such great reviews that I'm going to give it an honest shot. We'll see. The nice thing is that the series is over so when I'm done I won't be waiting for a new book.
Haha I've had an issue reading paranormal stuff because of teh twilight craze. It makes me sick so I'm curious about vampire academy. Haha Black Dagger Brotherhood is on my to-read list.
I get nervous more if it's YA and paranormal. I've got a few here to read like
, but every time I look at them I just can't bring myself to pick them up. I'm so nervous that I won't like them. I read the Iron Fey series and I'm not so fond of them but now I feel compelled to finish them. I don't want another series like that.
BDB is Very adult. They are not YA. They are quite sexual.
Graceling my close friend read and really really liked them. She also reads twilight to fall asleep because it's borning. Haha I figured they were very adult
I'm really curious about Graceling! I've been wanting to read it for some time, but I know that I'll just keep putting it off if I buy it.I agree Ottilie, I'm also pretty hesitant when it comes to reading paranormal YA. I either love them or hate them, and I hate to hate books I was supposed to love lol! I love it whenever an original idea comes along though, but now I just feel like they're all the same, which I really don't want to since it used to be my favorite genre.
What paranormal books/series do you guys recommend?
I liked Graceling, but felt Poison Study was better. Graceling's first 1/3 of the book is pretty slow.
Peytavi wrote: "What paranormal books/series do you guys recommend?..."Paranormal for YA? I still stand by Vampire Academy and Mortal Instruments. Those are some of the least angsty ones that I really like.
So much of YA PNR revolves around stupid, pining girls. I wanted to strangle the girl in Fallen, she was that bad.
I also like Morganville Vampires because the vamps are bad, but the other two series are better. Morganville doesn't really start to get good until around the third book. The heroine in the first book pretty much just gets beat up over and over. Eventually she grows a pair and learns to stand up for herself, but it takes a couple books to get to that point.
Paranormal for Adult? There's so many. Depends if you would rather read Urban Fantasy or Parnormal Romance. Do you prefer more action or more romance?
I'm currently reading City of Bones and really enjoying it. And I'd completely forgotten about Fallen - I suffered through the whole thing and then my friend insisted on borrowing it and well, I never saw it again. She probably burned it. I'll be checking out Morganville Vampires! Never heard of it actually, so thanks! But first...vampire academy. I really hope it's as good as everyone says. :)
The first VA book is a little heavy on world building and takes some getting used to, but once you get past that one, I think the series gets better and better with each book.
Glad to hear it! I love getting hooked on series.
See I didn't care for Poison Study, but I went into it thinking it would be a historical fiction book which was quickly smushed. Okay good to hear that the first VA is build up
Oh, Poison Study is straight epic fantasy. Nothing historical there. I thought the story caught so much quicker than Graceling. I had to quit on Graceling and go back to it months later because the first part of it was SO slow.
Wendy F wrote: "I got the whole Vampire Academy series, lmfao. The sales are only 20-40% off right now, I plan on going again in a week or two to see if they marked them down even more."I'm reading those... I really am enjoying them. Hope you like the Wendy!
Ottilie wrote: "See I didn't care for Poison Study, but I went into it thinking it would be a historical fiction book which was quickly smushed. Okay good to hear that the first VA is build up"Ottilie read the Poison Study but could not bring myself to read the next 2... A lot of people loved it!
It's weird because I actually really liked it, but didn't have the need to rush to the second book either, so I never got around to finishing the trilogy. Strange.
Romance, Historical or Otherwise
Books mentioned in this topic
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (other topics)City of Bones (other topics)
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (other topics)
The Time Traveler's Wife (other topics)
The Hunger Games (other topics)
More...
I have a bad habit of going into reading phases where I'll read 10 books at a time, and then suddenly drop everything and not read for months... so I'm hoping this will keep me motivated to keep reading even when things get hectic. Here we go.
I'll be posting the entire list sorted by category in the first post and then adding comments and ratings below.
Mystery and suspense
Chick-lit and funny books
Paranormal, Romance and YA
Other
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