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I am in for 100 books again. I think my personal goals are as follows: 10 Percent of my reads this year will be re-reads. I buy and hold on to so many books and I tell myself I am going to re-read things, but seldom do. Now is my chance to change that. 10 Percent of my reads will be "old". I'm aiming for books over 100 years old, but I will probably count something 80 or 90 years old. (I'll be tapping into a lot of public domain stuff for this I figure) In the meantime, I plan on being mindful of reading books by women, and non-fiction, but I'm not building a goal off of it at this time.
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Jan 2, 2015 05:39
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| # ¿ May 21, 2024 09:10 |
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Aphra Bane posted:Out of the poetry I've read recently, I'd recommend Warsan Shire's Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth and also the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam as poetry that's not too difficult to get into. The Rubaiyat's a lot of fun. Very hedonistic. Teaching My Mother was published a few years ago. It's much more grim and personal. Both are quite short, so you're not at much of a loss if you don't end up liking them. Also those looking for poetry, Garrison Keilor has edited three volumes of his "Good Poems" series. They are phenomenal, and it gives a good variety and range to expose yourself to. Whenever I teach a poetry unit in my class, sixty percent of what I use comes from those collections.
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Jan 3, 2015 14:48
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Roydrowsy posted:I am in for 100 books again. Thinking about it, I'm probably gonna shoot for the booklord challenge, since most of my reading will fit it already. I would be willing to swap "wildcards" with somebody, which can happen now, or we can do it later.
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Jan 6, 2015 02:04
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1. Tom Clancy - The Cardinal of the Kremlin I can't say that these books are amazing, because they're not, but I at least find them interesting. Since I started on the last year, every few months I usually pick one up and give it a shot. With the amount of fantasy and sci-fi I read, it can be nice to read something that attempts to feel a bit more authentic. That being said while it isn't "hard" to read, reading Clancy can be a bit dense. His books tend to slow me down as I will just focus on it instead of trying to do three at a time. 2. Red Rising -Pierce Brown This book is totally a Hunger Games / Ender's Game rip-off. That being said, I just so happen to have enjoyed reading both of those books. I had a lot of fun reading it, once we got into the nitty gritty of it all. It hits the same notes as the books it borrows heavily from. The only concern i have is that it is a part of a trilogy. A book that starts this way, in which the entire thing is essentially a gigantic self-contained war, is a lot of fun to read, but very seldom can it maintain and hold onto that vibe the next time around... so I will probably check it out, but I'm not tripping all over myself to do so. In the mix, I'm working on 4 books. Tricked -By Keven Hearne, Shame of the Nation - Jonathan Kozol, The Republic of Thieves - Scott Lynch & Shadow's Edge - Brent Weeks.
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Jan 12, 2015 06:05
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3. Tricked - Kevin Hearne - Another fun and enjoyable entry into the series, but I have to admit that the Iron Druid books seem to lack the depth that other 'urban fantasty' books seem to contain. It is a lot of fun, but these waters don't run deep. 4. The Republic of Thieves - Scott Lynch - I really enjoyed this one, better than the second book. The Locke books take a little while to get going, but once they do they're a hoot! 5. Not Taco Bell Material - Adam Carolla - essentially a rehash of all the stories I've heard from listening to Loveline as a kid, and the Adam Carolla podcast for about a year. It was alright, but didn't do much for me. 6. Data, A Love Story - Amy Webb. A highly neurotic Type-A lady decides to gather a bunch of data and uncover the secret on how to make an internet dating profile that helps you get what you're looking for. Absolutely nothing in this book is relevant to applicable to me or my life, but the story was fairly interesting. Though I am pretty sure the author is insane. 7. Shadow's Edge - Seemed a bit sloppy and a bit more rushed than the first book, but again I really enjoyed it. A solid entry into the series. Brent Weeks reminds me A LOT of Brandon Sanderson. While you don't really have to wait long for a new Sanderson, it is a nice treat. 8. Midnight Riot - Ben Aaronovitch - an interesting mystery story. I enjoyed it as a work of urban fantasy (a lot more than Sandman Slim). Hard to think of a whole lot to say about it. 9. The Giver - Lois Lowry - I don't really need to talk much about this book. Read it with my students. It is always nice to see them read and connect with this book. Overall, I've been reading a lot slower than usual. Work has been keeping me busy, as is a new baby on the way, and a dozen other things that need to be taken care of. Also, listening to podcasts has cut down on all of my audiobook time. Also, while I have read things that I have enjoyed, there hasn't been anything yet that I have totally loved and really gets those reading wheels turning of late.
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Feb 1, 2015 05:54
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10. The Paper Magician - Charlie N. Holmberg - The concept itself is fairly interesting but the book doesn't really meet its true potential. There is so much about this world of magic (based around bonding oneself to a material to manipulate) that doesn't get talked about or discussed. The main character is a bit too special and a bit too perfect, but I think for a YA reader looking to scratch that Harry Potter itch, they could do a lot worse. 11. The Concrete Blonde - Michael Connelly A fairly standard Mystery/Thriller. I haven't read a lot of Connelly, but I really enjoy his work. It isn't the sort of stuff that sticks around and lingers when you are done, but it makes for an entertaining read when you don't want to think.work too hard at a book. 12. Shame of the Nation - Jonathan Kozol. The premise of this book is pretty straight forward. The public schools of our nation have become segregated again along racial lines. People will deny race being a factor, or explain that this isn't intentional, but it totally is. This book is the frustrating, depressing, infuriating book that explains how racial segregation has returned to schools and looks at its impact of children. While 10 years old, everything in this book rings just as true today, which is sad. 13. McSweeny's #46 - this volume is a collection of Crime stories written by Latin American authors. The premise is interesting and the stories are of fine literary quality, I just wished I enjoyed reading collections of Short Stories. Getting a new McSweeny's every few months has been a lot of fun for the last year, and the books are beautiful, but I just don't get the enjoyment from them I wish I would. 14. Dirty Daddy - Bob Saget. It is interesting to get a chance to see who this guy really is, because he isn't the clean cut guy you watched on TV as a kid, nor is he the dude who yelled, "have you ever sucked dick for weed?" he is somewhere in the middle. The book makes him seem a bit depressed. There are some funny parts, but this book isn't a laugh riot by any means.
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Feb 9, 2015 01:14
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15. Alas Babylon - by Pat Frank An interesting post-apocalyptic novel, in that it really does it's best to try and play things straight. It attempts to answer the question, what would people do in order to survive should the Cold War break out into nuclear war. When compared to what other people have done since, Alas, Babylon reads really, really tame but it's not a bad piece of writing. 16. The Fifth Assassin - Brad Meltzer Overly, needlessly, insufferably over-complicated. Meltzer tries so hard to weave dense twisting secrets and events that he doesn't realize that plot suffers as a result. Probably the last Meltzer I'll read for awhile. 17. The Magician's Land - Lev Grossman I really, really loved the third book, and by extension, I really do appreciate the other books that came before it even more. Having finished all three, they really do work together to tell a complete story. 18. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test - Tom Wolfe This isn't a terrible book, and Wolfe makes for an interesting read, but honestly the hippies and merry pranksters in this book really aren't all that much more interesting than the hippie kids you would run into at college. I suppose at another time what they were up to was really fun and really exciting, but after many years you can't help but wonder why they didn't spend all of that energy and creativity doing something worthwhile. 19. Kitchen Confidential - Anthony Bourdain A really enjoyable biography. I am not, by any means a foodie. I cook things from time to time, and when I have time to do a good job, I usually really enjoy it. While Bourdain's arrogance and vanity is a bit of a hurdle, it is a book that makes the world of cooking interesting. I'd be curious to read other people's takes on a similar approach. 20. The Thin Man - Dashiell Hammett Somebody gave me this book because my wife and I just had our second child, who we named Dashell. I was pretty excited to read it. Then I read it. It is a mystery novel, but it is really dull. It is pretty much 200 pages in which one only exciting thing happens. Otherwise it is people just bouncing around having conversations with each other, everybody just lying and making poo poo up as they talk, and then at the last minute all the pieces fall together. I imagine what makes The Thin Man and Nick and Nora Charles so memorable is the film treatment of the story, and how it injects style and some witty banter into the mix.
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Mar 9, 2015 00:54
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21. The Long Earth - Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter: The concept itself is really interesting and exciting. The entire book plays out more like a thought exercise than anything. I found this approach to parallel earths to be fascinating. That being said the attempt at plot fell a little short. People expecting a fast-paced, comedic adventure will be disappointed. 22. NightJack - Tom Piccirilli: A highly bizarre and disorienting story of multiple personality disorder with a murder mystery thrown in for good measure. Piccirilli does a really good job of creating that dark, confusing atmosphere in his books, but the story itself left a bit to be desired. 23. The October List - Jeffery Deaver. A thriller novel written entirely in reverse. The last moment happening in the first chapter. At first it reads like a really lovely James Patterson novel, but the deeper you go, and the layers of plot are uncovered, you end up with something really unique and exciting. Not the best for somebody new to Deaver, but for somebody looking to try something experimental, it's really satisfying. 24. How to Be Black - Baratunde Thurston: Part autobiography, and partially an insightful and intelligent look into what it means "to be black" and what it means to cope as a black person in a society dominated by whiteness. There are books out there that do a better job getting down into the core issues, but this could serve as an interesting and entertaining "black experience for dummies" type book. 25. The Way of Kings - Brandon Sanderson: This took me forever to read, and it reads a lot like a prologue. You don't really see much of the bigger picture, which is different because Sanderson is typically somebody who gets to the point. One of the first books I picked up on my Kindle, I've only gotten around to reading it now. It is quite good, but it is also quite the committment. 26. F. Paul Wilson - Crisscross: More Repairman Jack. This time, he basically takes on the church of scientology. Wilson's Repairman Jack is highly satisfying, and it remains very consistent from book to book. 27. She Comes First by Ian Kerner: Basically a nerd writes the ultimate book about going down on women. It actually has some interesting things to say, but you can accomplish the same goals by communicating with your partner. I really, really, really don't recommend this as an audiobook. Lots of flowerly language and similies and metaphors to keep the tone cerebral as opposed to arousing. It was interesting, it provides some new things to try/consider, but I don't feel like its a game changer for those who can get a lady off. 28. Storm Front - John Sandford: Really light, pop-corn reading. Sandford's secondary series featuring Virgil Flowers. It was good enough to read, but ultimately fairly week and forgettable. Instead of fishing and rear end kicking, the plot got a little too silly. Its nice to see Sandford shake things up a bit, but he should stick to what he does best. 29. Skink No Surrender- Carl Hiaasen: Probably the weakest of Hiaasen's books for young adults, that being said, the book was still entertaining. A teenage reader will really connect with this book and enjoy it, but from somebody who has read a good number of Hiaasen's books, it doesn't bring much to the table we haven't seen before. 30. Lexicon - Max Barry: the concept itself is really interesting and exciting. I could see somebody taking the concept of linguistic persuasive superpowers and turning it into the next "PREACHER" or "100 Bullets" comic. This book, while fun and exciting, just didn't do enough with such a good idea.
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Apr 2, 2015 17:48
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31. Silken Prey - John Sandford A really light thriller reading. It wasn't one of his best, but not one of the worst either. Rather in the middle. 32. New Earth - Ben Bova : A really interesting, though not very realistic book. I had a lot of fun reading it, even when the things some of the characters did was rather frustrating. I can't believe that scientists would take so long to ask some key questions until the middle/end of the book, but that's fiction I suppose. 33 The Mongoliad Book 2: Various I was a little unhappy with this. The momentum from the first book falls off completely, and you end up with a bunch of positioning for about 400 pages as everybody gets ready for the final book. I plan to get around to the final book at some point, but this hasn't made me inclined to rush towards it. 34. The City - Dean Koontz. This is Koontz's unimpressive attempt to write a book like Stephen King's Revival (note they came out around the same time so it isn't intentional). It is fairly sappy, but probably better than some of the other things he has put out in the past few years. 35. The Three - Sarah Lotz: A pretty big let down. I can see what Lotz was going for, telling the story in snippets and bits, but the truth is that there isn't much story to tell. An interesting thing happens, and some less interesting things follow. Meh. 36. The Kill Room - Jeffery Deaver - Perhaps my least favorite of the Lincoln Rhyme novels. It isn't that it was bad, it just doesn't feel like any of it was breaking new ground. He could have done much better, and the twist at the end wasn't very exciting. 37. Field of Prey - John Sandford - A much more interesting Prey novel than Silken. A little bit more like the traditional Sandford serial killer stories, which are usually a bit more fun than the political conspiracy stuff, or that wacky Israel artifact plot from the Virgil Flowers novel. 38. Multiplication is for White People - Lisa Delpit As a teacher of kids who are not white, it is always interesting to see what people have to say on the subject. Delpit makes a lot of really important and interesting points about how race influences education, and what teachers think their students are capable of. 39. Red Dragon - Thomas Harris - This is the first of the Hannibal books I've ever read. I watched Silence of the Lambs on Hulu around this time and decided to give it a go. In the end, Hannibal Lecter was the least interesting thing about the novel, but I loved the rest of it. This got me to watch the Hannibal TV show, which I also love, and its amazing how well it fits with the tone and spirit of Red Dragon. 40. Double Dexter - Jeff Lindsay - The books, tell a more interesting, upbeat and fun story than the television show did. It's dark and odd and a little bit silly. It plays the whole idea of Dexter almost like a comic book, where the show tried to play it straight. 41. Hannibal - Thomas Harris - I didn't enjoy this one was much. The more information you have about Hannibal, and how his mind works, the less interesting he is. This put an end to my desire to read the other books, but the show is still quite nice. 42. Beyond the Shadows - Brent Weeks - This book was totally unbalanced. You spend the first five hundred pages watching things shift and move around, and then the massive battle that culminates the entire trilogy all happens in a very abrupt way. I was not impressed. Lots of books during this run have left me underwhelmed, which might explain my slow-down. 43. The Scarlet Gospels - Clive Barker : The prologue is brutal and vicious and amazing. Then it progressively shifts away from there one step at a time. It feels like this book is somewhat of a book about endurance and hope, as opposed to Barker revisiting his origins. Initially i was really put off by this, it wasn't the book I have been waiting years to read. With some time and perspective, I appreciate what it is and what it tries to do. It would be to your advantage to re-read some of the Harry D'Amour and Norma Paine stuff first though. 44. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing - Judy Blume - This might be cheating, but I read this to my young son at bed time for about a week and a half. He really loved it. I really loved it. It holds up a million times better than "The Mouse and the Motorcycle" 45. The Books of Magic - Neil Gaiman - Picked this up at a library sale. I've heard bits and pieces about it. I thought it was going to be something along the lines of a Harry Potter type thing, in which a young boy learns magic and saves the day. Lots of people have made that connection, and to The Unwritten. They are totally different. The Books of Magic is basically a tour through DC's Dark/Magical universe in the eyes of a young boy. It's an interesting way to present the information, and I'd be interested in exploring the DC Magical stuff a bit, had they not completely wiped out and erased everything. It might mean I finally sit down and read SANDMAN though. 46. Cold Cereal - Adam Rex. Adam Rex's picture books are a lot of fun, and I love them very much. This book was not a lot of fun, and I didn't love it that much. It reads like somebody's Monkey Cheese attempt at making an absurd Harry Potter. I was expecting a little bit more from the guy who wrote the book that kids movie "HOME" was based off. 47 Finders Keepers - Stephen King. If you don't look at it like a Stephen King novel, what you have is a fairly decent mystery/thriller novel. In that perspective, it's a pretty good book. The characters are interesting and the plot is fairly strong too. As a sequel to Mr. Mercedes, well, they don't even use the characters from the first book all that much. The twist at the end has me unsure about the end of this trilogy. If they play it straight and he writes another straightforward mystery/thriller I'm going to be okay with that. I wouldn't mind writing a book like this once every few years, but if he does what he hinted, it might taint the first two.
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Jun 18, 2015 01:28
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I am making an effort to read a lot of "Classics" and old important books. Partly because I want to pick some to teach to my class next year, and partly to read a bunch of stuff that I should have read as an English major, but ignored. 47 - Stephen King - Finders Keepers: An interesting follow up to Mr. Mercedes. I liked it, but it really didn't read much like King. It was a lot faster, more to the point. It was more of a small town mystery/thriller. The twist at the end was a little lovely, and makes me apprehensive about the third book schedule for these characters. 48. Mark Twain - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. I loved reading this book as a kid in school, and I think I liked it even more now. There are a lot of interesting and entertaining little points, and I think there is enough here that not only would my students enjoy reading it, but they would also be able to connect with some of the stuff that happens, a lot more than you would otherwise expect. 49. Clive Barker - Everville: Reread this one because The Scarlet Gospels had me excited for Barker. Everville isn't his strongest book, but there is a whole heck of a lot that happens here. It makes for an interesting lead up to the third Book of the Art, which still doesn't exist. Doesn't hold a candle to "The Great and Secret Show," though. 50 Jack London - Call of the Wild: First time reading this. I think it was a neat little book. I am not passionate about this one, but if I needed a book to teach next year, I could totally do a few things with this. 51 Jack London - White Fang: Actually a superior book to Call of the Wild. There is just more that happens, and it digs a little deeper. It is interesting how it is pretty much the exact opposite of Call of the Wild. Ideally, you would want to teach book, but you are asking kids to spend a lot of time reading dog books at that point. 52. George Orwell - Animal Farm: The first time I read this. This book is amazing in how totally frustrating it gets you. It is absolutely infuriating to read. I loved it. This is another one I definitely want to bring into the classroom. I spent a lot of time while reading this, digging into Russian history. I don't think I would do that so much with my students. A book that would bring out a lot of passion and emotion. 53 Ernest Hemingway - A Farewell to Arms: I didn't know what to expect from this, as I haven't really read much Hemingway. I liked "For Whom the Bell Tolls" more, but there is just something about this one that really sticks with you. Hemingway was a way of really taking lovely stuff like war, and making life in the midst of war romantic and not so lovely. A huge bummer though. 54 Stephen Crane - The Red Badge of Courage. Of this latest run of books, this is probably the least interesting. It almost seems like a book confused in its message. It does a really good job discussing the negative aspects and terrible nature of war, but then by the end the protagonist becomes totally awesome at war and everything is okay. Weird. 55. John Steinbeck - The Pearl: Love this book. Another one I totally plan to teach. Short, sweet, straight to the point. It is another story in which you find yourself easily getting frustrated and passionate. Coyotito's shattered skull has haunted me for years, and I look forward to passing that trauma forward. 56. Daniel Defoe - Robinson Crusoe: A little bland at times, but I really, really liked this book. Everybody knows that this book is about a guy who gets stuck on an island, but there is considerably more to it. That being said, everybody loves a good person stuck on an island story. Otherwise we wouldn't keep seeing them made. Meanwhile... I suppose I am ready for somebody to toss out a Wildcard book. You can pick what you want, it might take awhile to get to it. But, if I get any say, preferably something 50 years or older?
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Jul 8, 2015 04:25
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Lumius posted:Someone hit me with a wildcard. Alexandre Dumas, the black tulip
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Jul 14, 2015 19:57
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Lumius posted:It was good, real good. I am happy you enjoyed it!
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Jul 28, 2015 03:37
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crusoe 57 - Roald Dahl - The BFG - I read this to my kid at night over a few weeks. It was one of those books I read as a kid, but I didn't remember a whole lot about it. As a kid, I can see why I would have enjoyed it, but it lost some of its magic as a grownup... its easy to see why this one didn't become a movie. 58 - William Golding - Lord of the Flies - I read this, considering if I wanted to teach it or not. Ultimately, this one is a bit too tough for my kiddos, with the language and all, but down the road I might want to incorporate it. It's a fantastic book though, and you can see so many things having been inspired by it. 59 -Anne Frank - The Diary of Anne Franl I am 32 years old. I have a degree in English, and I've been teaching middle school for 6 years now and I have never read this. It is one of those books everybody reads. I will probably teach this one. I like how raw it is, and Anne is actually quite clever and witty. Without context, it probably isn't a big deal, but I feel like I'm going to break a few minds, as my kids are all inner-city and they spend tons of time on Civil Rights and none on WW2. 60 - Sir Walter Scott- Ivanhoe. An okay adventure story. It has some really fun and interesting elements, the Robin Hood connection is a blast, but perhaps the most dissapointing thing is that the protagonist isn't in a vast majority of the story - and Scott took the easy way out when it come to writing action scenes, cutting them out, or having a character describe it to another. 61 Frank Miller - Ronin: There is a run of Graphic Novels coming up, as I needed a break. Overall, I didn't really love Ronin. There were some cool and interesting parts, but the overall premise was just sort of silly. Some of Miller's art was gorgeous, other moments hard to read. I just don't love Frank Miller all that much I suppose. 62. Andy Weir - The Martian - I Loved this book. It was so much fun to read, and the fact that it made an attempt to have some connection to scientific accuracy was a huge added bonus. I stayed up late, late into the night reading this one. It was like being a kid again. I dismissed this as being poppy trend fiction, but it really deserves the attention it gets. 63 - 66: Brian Wood - DMZ : I re-read the entire series of DMZ. It is 12 volumes, but I only counted it as four, as those last four I read for the first time. Since i started DMZ, I have really loved this book. It might not be a game changer like Y The Last Man, Preacher, or Sandman, but it is a really strong series. It's overall tone and feel is unique. The ending is really bittersweet, but it is one of my favorite series. 67 Daniel O'Malley - The Rook: Also an amazingly fun book that I spent hours into the night reading. I got it on my kindle based on the buzz, but the summary on the back didn't really excite me. It seemed like a lot of old ideas and cliches thrown together. It is... but it comes together in a way that was really enjoyable and felt fresh. 68 - 70: Neil Gaiman - Sandman (Vol 1-3): i started reading Sandman, which I have never read before. I have enjoyed nearly all of it. It is really, really well done. I can see how it was ground breaking at the time, but it doesn't ignite the same passion that other Vertigo books have. I will finish it, but I don't feel inclined to rush. 71 - Michael Connelly - The Last Coyote: Trying to detox from all of the old classics with a really light mystery/thriller. I really enjoy Connelly's work. Again, no new ground is being broken by the Harry Bosch novels, but they are still really well done.. I still need to track down my wildcard "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" but in the meantime, with my job starting back up this week, I'm probably going to focus on some lighter, quicker reads...and once the school year is under way try and focus on finishing off the book list.
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Aug 9, 2015 15:08
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| # ¿ May 21, 2024 09:10 |
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[*]1. The vanilla read a set number of books in a year. 109/100 [*]2. [*]3. [*]4. Philosophy [*]5. History [*]6. An essay [*]7. A collection of poetry [*]8. Something post-modern [*]9. [*]10. The Blind Owl [*]11. [*]12. [*]13. [*]14. Wildcard (Some one else taking the challenge will tell you what to read) [*]15. [*]16. [*]17. A play [*]18. [*]19. [*]20. [*]21. [*]22. [s] A mystery [*]23. 10% Rereads 12/109 [*]24. "Old Books" 7/109 [/list] Too long since my last update... 72-74 Sandman Volumes 1-3 Being a person who enjoys a good comic book every now and then, I've never sat down and read any Sandman. It was always one of those books with a ton of hype, but when I'd flip through it, I'd be rather unimpressed with what I saw. Having read the first three volumes, I really enjoyed it. I like that, instead of one large narrative that spans from volume to volume, it is a bunch of little stories. I am anxious to keep going, but it will most likely be a matter of when i come across them in the used bookstores. 75. Lee Child: Nothing to Lose: This particular book slowed me down. As far as a Reacher books goes, it was fine. Yet I had a hard time getting through it as an audiobook. In the end, it was a fine story, but there wasn't much special about it. 76. Michael Connelly - Trunk Music: Having started to read/listen to Connelly novels, I really, really enjoy them. They're quick, well written police procedurals. Probably my favorite series of the bunch. This sorta go me onto a string of Connelly novels. 77 - Richard Kadrey - Devil Said Bang: I totally skipped book three of the series, and did this one instead. I am thankful because now it means I don't have to read book 3, because these are all utter crap. Had they not been on sale on the Kindle store - I'd not have wasted the time.money. Avoid like the plague. 78 - Michael Connelly - Angel's Flight: another Harry Bosch novel. Solid police procedural writing. Enjoyable when you need a brain break. 79- 81 Michael Connelly - The Lincoln Lawyer, The Brass Verdict, The Reversal - Having enjoyed the police procedural novels as much as I did, i decided to give Connelly's lawyer books a shot too. I loved them. I guess this is the year of my enjoyment of Michael Connelly books. If you dig legal thriller, these are among my favorite. 82 - John Grishman - The Confession - my enjoyment of legal thrillers didn't extend beyond Connelly. The Confession is an interesting book, but it just lacked the same speed and punch of the Mickey Haller books. As far as Grishman goes, it was interesting. A bit more realistic I suppose, but not as much fun. 83 - Patricia Cornwell - The Bone Bed: absolute and utter garbage. I've not read any of her other books, but I get the feeling that she's just trying to make a buck at this point. 84 - Dean Koontz - Shadowfires: I found a rare, illustrated edition of this book which was why I picked it up. I had to justify the cost by actually reading it. It is pretty standard 80's Dean Koontz. Techno/Mad Science/Horror without the god references or redemption. If you were to summarize Koontz's work at the time, Shadowfires would be what that summary looks like. 85 - John Connolly - Every Dead Thing: Did this on my Kindle and it took a long time because I read the Kindle before bed, and I just didn't have the time/energy to read much. While there are things about the book I liked, the biggest problem I had was that this was almost like two books jammed together. Connolly wanted the character to accomplish certain things in his first outing, and it just feels crammed and rushed. 86 - Mike Carey - The Devil You Know: A really solid bit of urban fantasy. I like how, for the most part, it kept things simple. Too many times to the writers of these books try to cram in a TON of supernatural stuff. This just focuses on ghosts, and it worked really well. 87-88 Michael Connelly - The Fifth Witness & The Gods of Guilt : the other two Connelly lawyer books. Just as good as the first three. I couldn't help myself. 89: Shane Kuhn - The Intern's Handbook: A fun and interesting little book about assassins. Not terribly realistic, but a light, fun read. 90-91 Michael Connelly; A Darkness more Than Night, City of Bones: The first one probably my least favorite Connelly book. He tries to jam characters from different books together, and it just didn't work as well. City of Bones was good.. but it is pretty much the first season of the TV show in book form. 92: Nick Cutter: The Deep: THE TROOP was awesome. This one was less awesome. It's basically Michael Crichton's "SPHERE" mixed with that Hellraiser in Space movie. Cutter will have some great things to offer in the future, but he's not quite there yet. 93 - Ben Winters: Bed Bugs: A confused mess of a book that isn't sure if it wants to be a visceral horror novel, or a psychological thriller. It ends up being a mess, but it was well timed as our little one brought home bed bugs from preschool right about that time. 94 - Jo Nesbo - The Leopard: I wanted to expand my police procedural reading around a bit. I like the Nesbo books, they have a very distinct feel. Perhaps it is because of how they are translated, but they come across as really quite dense though. 95 - michael Connelly - Lost light: more Harry Bosch. 96: Lee Child : Gone Tomorrow - more typical Jack Reacher, but a bit more exciting than the last one. 97 Tony Hillerman : The Blessing Way - I've heard good things about this guy and his books, but this one just didn't really work for me. 98: Stephen King - The Dark Half: Of all of the King books, this was one that stuck with me the least, having read it as a kid. I gave it a re-read. It is far from one of my favorites. I appreciate how it doesn't try to explain too much, its just not a strong book. 99 & 100: Jurassic Park & The Lost World : after seeing Jurassic World, the bug bit me. I gave them a re-read. I was surprised to see how strongly different the books and films were. The books are far more complex, and rely on these concepts of scientific theory. It was almost like the dinosaurs were afterthoughts to the bigger ideas that Crichton wanted to present. 101-102 Janet Evanovich: 16 & 17. These books really, really, really aren't good. They barely qualify as stories. But they make the drive to work each morning a little quicker, and they have a few amusing bits. it's like watching a cartoon. If you expect things of consequence to happen, you'd be disappointing. 103: Jeff Strand: Dweller - This book rips your guts out. In some ways it has a lot in common with those Boy and His dog novels, but in other regards it is this horrific story about a guy who ruins his own life. Strand has a way of writing that really hits you in the guts, He pulls no punches, and nobody is ever safe. It has the heart of Harry and the Hendersons, but at the same time it packs the same punch as the best horror novels. 104 - John Steinbeck: Travels with Charlie: I love Steinbeck, and I seem to enjoy books about travel. This one was a decent, solid read, but it didn't really stand out and impress the way Steinbeck usually does for me. 105 - Michael Connelly - The Narrows: another Harry Bosch novel. It isn't bad, but it is weakened slightly again, by trying to cram in characters from other books with Connelly's flagship character. To much tying up of loose ends. 106 - Jefferey Deaver: Solitude Creek: Jeffery Deaver never dissapoints! Really good mystery/detective thriller. other books.... I need to update more frequently... Harry Potter and the sorcerers stone Handling the Undead Armada - Ernest Cline Cold Granite Stuart Macbride Second Hand Souls Christopher Moore Deadline - John Sandford (somehow my numbers got all screwed up.. i should be at 109) I know I won't complete the entire challenge, but I have a few things lined up for A PLAY, HISTORY. at least. I gotta find a cheap copy of the WILDCARD I was given (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn). I will have few weeks off for Christmas, and will break those out then.
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Nov 28, 2015 18:11
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