The 104 Book Challenge - 2012 discussion
Rooks' Reading Randomness
message 51:
by
Rooks
(new)
Jun 16, 2012 04:45PM
43. Kushiel's Chosen by Jacqueline Carey
reply
|
flag
52. The Hunger Games by Suzanne CollinsOk honestly, and though I feel the series suffers as it goes on, I totally read this book and the sequel, Catching Fire, a total of 6 times in one week. Yes really. Only counting each of them once, though.
58. Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition by Daniel Okrent5/5 This is a really, really fascinating read, if you're at all into history. (I may even bother to write up a full review at some point.)
59. The Berenstain Bears and the Dress Code by Stan and Jan Berenstain.When I heard that Jan Berenstain died, I took a trip down memory lane all the way back to my old copies of the Berenstain Bears chapter books, and let me tell you, it was delightful.
66. What's the Opposite of a Best Friend? by A. Bates. . . And then, once the dam was cracked on childhood/teenage favorites, things just got out of hand. (Who am I kidding? They continue to be out of hand, but are now interspersed with more grown-up books as well. :D )
68. The Popularity Summer by Rosemary VernonAnd then at a used book store, I discovered a sequel! It's even worse, so I actually enjoyed it less, but still. (I like things that are delightfully bad, but they can only be so bad before most to all of their redeeming entertainment qualities - which usually center around making fun of the book or things being inadvertently hilarious - are drowned in the tide of their own suck.)
69. The Cat Ate My Gymsuit by Paula DanzigerOn the other hand, I legitimately just love Paula Danziger books. They vary in appeal (to me, at least), but I have yet to read one I actually didn't straight up like - in posting these, I'm realizing she has a lot more books than I ever knew about, so maybe that's not true, but it seems like it is, generally.
73. Can You Sue Your Parents for Malpractice? by Paula DanzigerThis one is my favorite of hers. I mean, the title alone! :D
Ok, according to the running tally I've been keeping on my nightstand, that's everything for now. Phew! I really have to not let things get so out of hand.
Rooks wrote: "42. Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey.Reread for the umpteenth time - I love this trilogy with deep and epic fangirl levels of passion. :D"
Me toooooo! My boyfriend just doesn't get why I have to have both print and electronic versions of them all... sigh. :)
Lyssa wrote: "Me toooooo! My boyfriend just doesn't get why I have to have both print and electronic versions of them all... sigh. :) "Oh man, I have ebook and book versions too! They are SO GOOD.
78. Fire Study by Maria V. SnyderOk, talk about a trilogy that skipped merrily down hill with alacrity! First book, super fun! Second book, fun enough! Third book, effing terrible! I think towards the end I nearly sprained an eyeball from rolling them too frequently.
Rooks wrote: "78. Fire Study by Maria V. SnyderOk, talk about a trilogy that skipped merrily down hill with alacrity! "
Oh, look....you're reading from my bookshelves again. =) I remember not liking the 2nd and 3rd as much, but not to the extent you did. They are now on the re-read list.
Lyssa wrote: Oh, look....you're reading from my bookshelves again. =)"At this point I should probably just check what you're reading in advance so as not to be redundant! :D And honestly, the second one was fine; it was the *third* one that was tough to finish.
79. Magic Slays by Ilona AndrewsI had so much fun rereading these that I started to hunt down all the Ilona Andrews novellas, too . . .
80. Must Love Hellhounds by Ilona Andrews, et al.Reading a novella from Andrea's perspective was, I think, a good lead in to an entire novel from her side of things. Now when Andrea's book comes out in a month, I'll be prepared.
81. Silent Blade by Ilona AndrewsSci-fi instead of urban fantasy? Okeydoke! It's a bit rockier, and being novellas, if feels like the authors don't get to play as much as I'd want to what I consider their biggest strength - imaginative world-building - but still a rather fun and intriguing outing. I'm hoping they get a chance to start ramping these up to bigger books, because I think there's quite a bit of potential.
82. Silver Shark by Ilona AndrewsI think I liked the first one in this demi-series better, but it was still both entertaining and a diverting way to spend an hour.
83. Magic Dreams by Ilona Andrews.I've got nothing against Dali and I like Jim as a character quite a lot, and I think those two crazy kids are gonna make it, but reading a novella from Dali's perspective did not quite fulfill the ass-kickin' quotient I tend to hope for in an Ilona Andrews outing.
84. Hex Appeal by Various AuthorsSo I got this book for the remaining Ilona Andrews short story, but I made some other discoveries along the way, so I'll type them out. I would definitely recommend the anthology though - as such things go, it was a pretty good primer on discovering some new authors.
The Ilona Andrews story was fine - I've basically come to believe that, as much as I adore IA, they work best in longer books, otherwise things get a bit confusing. To be clear, it wasn't bad, it just wasn't great, and I'm used to loving all things Kate Daniels related with an unholy passion.
The Jim Butcher story, on the other hand, *was* great - I'd never read him before, and now I shall. Apparently he's one of PapaRooks' favorites, and I never even knew, so somewhere there's a treasure trove of Butcher books to borrow, and I plan to get on that sooner rather than later.
The Rachel Caine story was pretty good as well - I knew EXACTLY who did what as soon as a plot point was revealed, so as a mystery . . . it was a bit of a fail. I know I read and watch enough mystery type stuff that I might just be a preternaturally good guesser, but I really do think this one was twelve kinds of simple to sort out. Despite that, I didn't hate it. I will probably acquire some Rachel Caine and give her normal stuff a go.
The Carole Nelson Douglas story - ok, what. the. hell. What was going on here? It was ridonkulously confusing! After finishing it, I did some research to see if you really, really, REALLY needed to have read the series in which this story is set in order get what was going on - short answer, it would've helped somewhat - and many of the reviews for those books (Delilah Street) also talked about how the author seemed to want to throw everything at you all at once. The books are set in Vegas, and one reviewer compared reading it to being on the Strip - way too many flashing lights. I have to agree. (Which is a shame, because there were some interesting things happening plot and character-wise, but I'm not prepared to slog through something that constantly leaves me feeling like I must've accidentally skimmed a page or five somewhere.)
PN Elrod - Interesting enough, though not much happened. I'll probably read more of this author at some point, but I'm not almost impatient to do so (unlike Butcher).
Simon R. Green - This one was . . . odd. I didn't have a problem with the world or the concepts or the plot, for the most part, but it felt really weirdly racialized for a modern story? Like, do people actually still think saying "chinaman" is kosher for dialogue that's not supposed to be from someone who's kind of an asshole (and in this case, is our protagonist)? And would they in whichever century this book takes place in (given that the cars are sometimes from the 23rd or 24th century and not an anomaly, I'm guessing later than 20th)? That was just the most explicit example, but yeah, I didn't enjoy the story enough for it to overcome that fatal flaw, so I doubt I'll be seeking out more Green.
Lori Handeland - I found this really interesting, only to discover upon research that the protagonist in this book (it's an offshoot of the Phoenix Chronicles), whom I liked, is kind of justifiably not happy with the protagonist in the actual series, which wouldn't be so bad if the series itself weren't in what appears to be publishing purgatory. I learned my lesson with L.J. Smith's Night World; if I *know* a series languishes in limbo, I try to avoid it. I may try some of her other stuff, though.
Erica Hayes - Ok, this one was interesting enough to send me searching out her other books, and wooboy. I will be reviewing one of those shortly. It wasn't that the story itself was particularly great, but I found the author's style both interesting and sufficiently dark. (I don't like fantasy/sci-fi books where life is Super Dangerous and the protagonist has a problem with killing or becomes rather moral simply because they meet someone who's actually a decent sort. It strains credulity for me.)
Carrie Vaughn - So, that whole problem with killing/ferocity/etc. thing? Yeah, it's why I stopped Vaughn's Kitty books, because homegirl is *awfully squeamish* for a shapeshifter alpha, and I just . . . couldn't get behind that. (I read like 8 of those books, so seriously, I tried really hard.) This story is set in that world but followed one of the most interesting characters, and I gotta say, I dug it. If Odysseus Grant got his own series, even having sworn off Kitty, I'd probably give it a shot.
And that's all of 'em! Not a bad anthology, with plenty of good leads on authors I may want to follow up on.
85. Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar2.5/5 So I was watching GG (the TV series) on Netflix, and suddenly wondered why I'd never read the books. Now I'm fairly certain I know why - these kids are pretty damn annoying - but I haven't decided whether to go all the way on this series or not. I managed to put up with Elizabeth and Jessica and Bruce and Todd and Lila and Amy and the rest as a kid, so I don't think I can honestly say that the GG gang is any more whiny and head-smackingly obvious than the Sweet Valley gang without inducing a serious case of "get off my lawn, ya damn hooligans"-itis, but I may legitimately be too old for this without a spoonful of nostalgia to help the shlock go down. I started Book 2 though, so we'll see.
86. The Trouble with Demons by Lisa Shearin3/5 I really liked this series at first, but I'm starting to become concerned about the direction of the books (colossal escalation of powers for the heroine, despite the fact that she doesn't seem to take a lot of time to learn what to do with these new gifts, inevitable love triangle involving two men, one with "white" magic and one with "black," etc., etc.), as well as a moment of what I felt was colossal stupidity on the part of the heroes that didn't seem to make *that* much sense given some of their previous characterizations and felt mostly enacted to keep certain plot elements available for future books. I think it might be spoilerish to say more, so I'm going to wait to reserve judgment until after reading the next one.
87. Hellcursed by Erica Hayes.4/5 So I discovered this author via Hex Appeal, planned to read the first book in her Shadowfae series, and discovered what I think was a subsequently published prequel available for free download from the author's site. (I base that notion not on facts but on the observation that it's a) a novella prequel, after all, and b) better written than the first book of the series.) That being said . . . :::fans self::: Talk about some steamy sexytimes! I mean, the circumstances are dark and the results are darker, but the scene itself was pretty hot, IMO. Definitely rated M for Mature, as it were.
The 104 Book Challenge - 2012
Books mentioned in this topic
Fried Coffee & Jellied Bourbon (other topics)Insurgent (other topics)
Divergent (other topics)
A Girl's Guide to Vampires (other topics)
Tallulah, Darling: A Biography of Tallulah Bankhead (other topics)
More...
