Since my last post, I got out of my reading funk and picked up a few books. I also upgraded my library card (well, its more like my library upgraded). I reinstalled Vista on my computer maybe 3 times. But despite that hassle, May was a good month. Now for some more detail...
I read:
Wanderlust - Ann Aguirre
Awesome!
Doubleblind - Ann Aguirre
Even more awesome!
Silver Borne - Patricia Briggs
Love this series! I read the book so fast I'm sure I missed a lot. It delivered what I was hoping for: a well-written, fast-paced, action/adventure/mystery, and it also developed the series some more. Loved it!
Lover Mine - J. R. Ward
This book made me sigh and groan. I have a love hate relationship with J. R. Ward. I couldn't wait to read about John Matthew and Xhex but the numerous side plots were so annoying, frustrating, and, frankly, boring. But, I will say I'm dying to find out what happens to Blay and Quinn. That alone will make me read the next book (at which point I'm sure I'll find something in the next book that will keep me in I have to know mode).
I'm currently reading:
King of Sword and Sky - C. L. Wilson
So far so good (even though I'm only on page 31).
I have some other goodies waiting:
The Summer of You - Kate Noble
Tithe - Holly Black
I'm sure I'll be reading more since my library has become awesome. It is no longer a small country library. It has joined forces with the libraries of Indiana. Yes, it is now part of Evergreen Indiana, Open Source Integrated Library System (a round of applause please). It's a group of 60 or so Indiana libraries. I can get books from any of them sent to my local library which has greatly increased my reading selection (so excited)!
That's all I have for now. I leave you with this quote from a certain pirate captain:
I'm sorry, it's just, it's such a pretty boat... ship.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Saturday, May 1, 2010
What now?
I've been asking myself that question a lot lately.
I just don't know what to read next.
Since my last post, I've caught up with Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress series. I really enjoyed that series and am looking forward to the next title. The fourth book, Destined for an Early Grave, although very moody through the middle, turned out to be awesome. I definitely had open mouth syndrome through several parts of it.
I also read A Conspiracy of Kings, which I'd been waiting for with bated breath for years! When I finally bought it, it sat on my shelf for two weeks... TWO WEEKS!!! I just couldn't get myself to pick it up. To give you some background, this is one of my all time favorite series. I read the first book in middle school and immediately inhaled it a second time (something which I don't do). So, for me to wait that long to read it... not good. Anyway, I finally did pick it up and it was good. Not my favorite of the series, but very good all the same. I need to read it again because Ms. Turner always hides some gems in her stories. I'm sure I'll pick up lots that I missed the first time through.
I also got caught up on the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews (love this series)! I'm anxiously waiting for the fourth book but at the same time I'm hesitant. Kate is definitely wobbling on the edge of a crumbling cliff and I'm worried about what is going to happen in the next book. Even the title sounds ominous... Magic Bleeds *shiver*. From Ms. Andrews website:
I also read Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles, the sequel (maybe companion novel is a better description) to Perfect Chemistry. The book is about Carlos, the younger brother of the main character in Perfect Chemistry. Carlos gets sent to Colorado against his will to live with his brother. He starts attending school and meets Kiara, a somewhat awkward character yet very sweet. Their relationship begins with irritation, annoyance, and some back and forth challenging. As the story continues, they develop feelings for each other. Unfortunately, Carlos' gang affiliations crop up to create some conflict, but never fear, true love prevails! In all seriousness though, the book was awesometastic! I liked the characters and enjoyed watching their relationship develop. And the sexual tension... yum! Although the final conflict and resolution made me say reeeeaaallly, overall, a very entertaining read.
And now I'm stumped.
I picked up book two of Ann Aguirre's Sirantha Jax series. I read the first five pages and put it down. I don't think I'm in the mood to read a series. For the last few years, I've been on a series rampage and I think I must be seriesed out (?)
I think I just need a few good romances. Something with a happy ending, intriguing yet light. I've been reading so much urban fantasy and paranormal that I think I'm just tired.
I've been considering trying some of Julie James' stuff. I've seen lots of good reviews for her novels.
Anyone have any suggestions for me?
I just don't know what to read next.
Since my last post, I've caught up with Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress series. I really enjoyed that series and am looking forward to the next title. The fourth book, Destined for an Early Grave, although very moody through the middle, turned out to be awesome. I definitely had open mouth syndrome through several parts of it.
I also read A Conspiracy of Kings, which I'd been waiting for with bated breath for years! When I finally bought it, it sat on my shelf for two weeks... TWO WEEKS!!! I just couldn't get myself to pick it up. To give you some background, this is one of my all time favorite series. I read the first book in middle school and immediately inhaled it a second time (something which I don't do). So, for me to wait that long to read it... not good. Anyway, I finally did pick it up and it was good. Not my favorite of the series, but very good all the same. I need to read it again because Ms. Turner always hides some gems in her stories. I'm sure I'll pick up lots that I missed the first time through.
I also got caught up on the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews (love this series)! I'm anxiously waiting for the fourth book but at the same time I'm hesitant. Kate is definitely wobbling on the edge of a crumbling cliff and I'm worried about what is going to happen in the next book. Even the title sounds ominous... Magic Bleeds *shiver*. From Ms. Andrews website:
She loses everything??? I'm scared...
MAGIC BLEEDS is one of those pivotal books that can either make or break the series. Vital changes take place. Kate’s heritage comes to light and the effect on her life is catastrophic. She loses everything. It’s probably one of the grimmer books we’ve written, but it’s also the most relationship heavy.
I also read Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles, the sequel (maybe companion novel is a better description) to Perfect Chemistry. The book is about Carlos, the younger brother of the main character in Perfect Chemistry. Carlos gets sent to Colorado against his will to live with his brother. He starts attending school and meets Kiara, a somewhat awkward character yet very sweet. Their relationship begins with irritation, annoyance, and some back and forth challenging. As the story continues, they develop feelings for each other. Unfortunately, Carlos' gang affiliations crop up to create some conflict, but never fear, true love prevails! In all seriousness though, the book was awesometastic! I liked the characters and enjoyed watching their relationship develop. And the sexual tension... yum! Although the final conflict and resolution made me say reeeeaaallly, overall, a very entertaining read.
And now I'm stumped.
I picked up book two of Ann Aguirre's Sirantha Jax series. I read the first five pages and put it down. I don't think I'm in the mood to read a series. For the last few years, I've been on a series rampage and I think I must be seriesed out (?)
I think I just need a few good romances. Something with a happy ending, intriguing yet light. I've been reading so much urban fantasy and paranormal that I think I'm just tired.
I've been considering trying some of Julie James' stuff. I've seen lots of good reviews for her novels.
Anyone have any suggestions for me?
Sunday, April 11, 2010
So it's late Sunday night...
Well, not really late.
I'm watching Planet 51 with the hubby kinda wishing I was reading the second installment of Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress series. You know how it is when you've been waiting to read a book for a while...
I finally read Mrs. V's inaugural blog post and I have to say that is one whopper of a list! I've read some of those titles as well, some of them during high school and some just for kicks. There are a few on there that I would like to read, though so I'm thinking it would be fun to read them together.
I did get some new books this weekend *squee*
I bought:
One Foot in the Grave - Jeaniene Frost
At Grave's End - Jeaniene Frost
Rules of Attraction - Simone Elkeles
The last one I've got to get Mrs. V to read. First, though, she has to read Perfect Chemistry (loved that book). I'm pretty sure she'll like both of them!
So, off to get some some food and actually watch this movie. It did look funny in the previews...
I'm watching Planet 51 with the hubby kinda wishing I was reading the second installment of Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress series. You know how it is when you've been waiting to read a book for a while...
I finally read Mrs. V's inaugural blog post and I have to say that is one whopper of a list! I've read some of those titles as well, some of them during high school and some just for kicks. There are a few on there that I would like to read, though so I'm thinking it would be fun to read them together.
I did get some new books this weekend *squee*
I bought:
One Foot in the Grave - Jeaniene Frost
At Grave's End - Jeaniene Frost
Rules of Attraction - Simone Elkeles
The last one I've got to get Mrs. V to read. First, though, she has to read Perfect Chemistry (loved that book). I'm pretty sure she'll like both of them!
So, off to get some some food and actually watch this movie. It did look funny in the previews...
Monday, April 5, 2010
Time Magazine's top 100 books to read
Roxy and I love to read. We both can spend hours caught in a different world, translating words into pictures and sounds. That's one of the reasons why she's my best friend! (Besides her being AWESOME, of course.) We like different varieties of book, different authors, different plots and characters, but at the end of the day, we're both bookworms.
When Roxy told me of this great idea (starting a book blog, that is), I jumped RIGHT in! I mean, blogging and books? What's better than that? Oh, you say a Caramel Macchiato with whipped cream and extra caramel? Well, maybe. Wait! LIAR!! Nothing is better than books and blogging (with the slight exception of our husbands).
Between work, and spending time with my husband, I honestly doubted whether or not I'd have time to devote to this blog. But then I thought, wait. How many young people honestly read books nowadays? And I don't mean school books, or video game manuals. I mean, an actual novel, without pictures. A book filled with tiny little black letters that are miraculously put togethr to make things called WORDS. That you READ. It's rare, I tell ya! My friend Google, directed me to Time Magazine's website, where I came across the below list:
ALL TIME 100 Novels
TIME critics Lev Grossman and Richard Lacayo pick the 100 best English-Language novels from 1923 to the present
Full List
A - B
The Adventures of Augie March (1953), by Saul Bellow
All the King's Men (1946), by Robert Penn Warren
American Pastoral (1997), by Philip Roth
An American Tragedy (1925), by Theodore Dreiser
Animal Farm (1946), by George Orwell
Appointment in Samarra (1934), by John O'Hara
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret (1970), by Judy Blume
The Assistant (1957), by Bernard Malamud
At Swim-Two-Birds (1938), by Flann O'Brien
Atonement (2002), by Ian McEwan
Beloved (1987), by Toni Morrison
The Berlin Stories (1946), by Christopher Isherwood
The Big Sleep (1939), by Raymond Chandler
The Blind Assassin (2000), by Margaret Atwood
Blood Meridian (1986), by Cormac McCarthy
Brideshead Revisited (1946), by Evelyn Waugh
The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1927), by Thornton Wilder
C - D
Call It Sleep (1935), by Henry Roth
Catch-22 (1961), by Joseph Heller
The Catcher in the Rye (1951), by J.D. Salinger
A Clockwork Orange (1963), by Anthony Burgess
The Confessions of Nat Turner (1967), by William Styron
The Corrections (2001), by Jonathan Franzen
The Crying of Lot 49 (1966), by Thomas Pynchon
A Dance to the Music of Time (1951), by Anthony Powell
The Day of the Locust (1939), by Nathanael West
Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927), by Willa Cather
A Death in the Family (1958), by James Agee
The Death of the Heart (1958), by Elizabeth Bowen
Deliverance (1970), by James Dickey
Dog Soldiers (1974), by Robert Stone
F - G
Falconer (1977), by John Cheever
The French Lieutenant's Woman (1969), by John Fowles
The Golden Notebook (1962), by Doris Lessing
Go Tell it on the Mountain (1953), by James Baldwin
Gone With the Wind (1936), by Margaret Mitchell
The Grapes of Wrath (1939), by John Steinbeck
Gravity's Rainbow (1973), by Thomas Pynchon
The Great Gatsby (1925), by F. Scott Fitzgerald
H - I
A Handful of Dust (1934), by Evelyn Waugh
The Heart is A Lonely Hunter (1940), by Carson McCullers
The Heart of the Matter (1948), by Graham Greene
Herzog (1964), by Saul Bellow
Housekeeping (1981), by Marilynne Robinson
A House for Mr. Biswas (1962), by V.S. Naipaul
I, Claudius (1934), by Robert Graves
Infinite Jest (1996), by David Foster Wallace
Invisible Man (1952), by Ralph EllisonL - N
Light in August (1932), by William Faulkner
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (1950), by C.S. Lewis
Lolita (1955), by Vladimir Nabokov
Lord of the Flies (1955), by William Golding
The Lord of the Rings (1954), by J.R.R. Tolkien
Loving (1945), by Henry Green
Lucky Jim (1954), by Kingsley Amis
The Man Who Loved Children (1940), by Christina Stead
Midnight's Children (1981), by Salman Rushdie
Money (1984), by Martin Amis
The Moviegoer (1961), by Walker Percy
Mrs. Dalloway (1925), by Virginia Woolf
Naked Lunch (1959), by William Burroughs
Native Son (1940), by Richard Wright
Neuromancer (1984), by William Gibson
Never Let Me Go (2005), by Kazuo Ishiguro
1984 (1948), by George Orwell
O - R
On the Road (1957), by Jack Kerouac
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1962), by Ken Kesey
The Painted Bird (1965), by Jerzy Kosinski
Pale Fire (1962), by Vladimir Nabokov
A Passage to India (1924), by E.M. Forster
Play It As It Lays (1970), by Joan Didion
Portnoy's Complaint (1969), by Philip Roth
Possession (1990), by A.S. Byatt
The Power and the Glory (1939), by Graham Greene
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961), by Muriel Spark
Rabbit, Run (1960), by John Updike
Ragtime (1975), by E.L. Doctorow
The Recognitions (1955), by William Gaddis
Red Harvest (1929), by Dashiell Hammett
Revolutionary Road (1961), by Richard Yates
S - T
The Sheltering Sky (1949), by Paul Bowles
Slaughterhouse Five (1969), by Kurt Vonnegut
Snow Crash (1992), by Neal Stephenson
The Sot-Weed Factor (1960), by John Barth
The Sound and the Fury (1929), by William Faulkner
The Sportswriter (1986), by Richard Ford
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1964), by John le Carre
The Sun Also Rises (1926), by Ernest Hemingway
Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), by Zora Neale Hurston
Things Fall Apart (1959), by Chinua Achebe
To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), by Harper Lee
To the Lighthouse (1927), by Virginia Woolf
Tropic of Cancer (1934), by Henry Miller
U - W
Ubik (1969), by Philip K. Dick
Under the Net (1954), by Iris Murdoch
Under the Volcano (1947), by Malcolm Lowry
Watchmen (1986), by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
White Noise (1985), by Don DeLillo
White Teeth (2000), by Zadie Smith
Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), by Jean Rhys
All-TIME Graphic Novels
Berlin: City of Stones (2000), by Jason Lutes
Blankets (2003), by Craig Thompson
Bone (2004), by Jeff Smith
The Boulevard of Broken Dreams (2002), by Kim Deitch
The Dark Knight Returns (1986), by Frank Miller
David Boring (2000), by Daniel Clowes
Ed the Happy Clown (1989), by Chester Brown
Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth (2000), by Chris Ware
Palomar: The Heartbreak Soup Stories (2003), by Gilbert Hernandez
Watchmen (1986), by Alan Moore & Dave GibbonsAbout the List
So I've embarked myself on a journey to read this list. (Gulp!) Let's see how that goes. I've already read several of them, but it never hurts to put a good book on repeat.
All in all, welcome to our blog. We're always open to suggestions. Please remember, we're still a work in progress!
Okay, I have a funny. I clicked on Spellcheck, and it highlighted Macchiato. What did it think I should replace it with? How about MACHETE! That cracked me up! Machete's don't taste nearly as good as macchiatos. Funny!
When Roxy told me of this great idea (starting a book blog, that is), I jumped RIGHT in! I mean, blogging and books? What's better than that? Oh, you say a Caramel Macchiato with whipped cream and extra caramel? Well, maybe. Wait! LIAR!! Nothing is better than books and blogging (with the slight exception of our husbands).
Between work, and spending time with my husband, I honestly doubted whether or not I'd have time to devote to this blog. But then I thought, wait. How many young people honestly read books nowadays? And I don't mean school books, or video game manuals. I mean, an actual novel, without pictures. A book filled with tiny little black letters that are miraculously put togethr to make things called WORDS. That you READ. It's rare, I tell ya! My friend Google, directed me to Time Magazine's website, where I came across the below list:
ALL TIME 100 Novels
TIME critics Lev Grossman and Richard Lacayo pick the 100 best English-Language novels from 1923 to the present
Full List
A - B
The Adventures of Augie March (1953), by Saul Bellow
All the King's Men (1946), by Robert Penn Warren
American Pastoral (1997), by Philip Roth
An American Tragedy (1925), by Theodore Dreiser
Animal Farm (1946), by George Orwell
Appointment in Samarra (1934), by John O'Hara
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret (1970), by Judy Blume
The Assistant (1957), by Bernard Malamud
At Swim-Two-Birds (1938), by Flann O'Brien
Atonement (2002), by Ian McEwan
Beloved (1987), by Toni Morrison
The Berlin Stories (1946), by Christopher Isherwood
The Big Sleep (1939), by Raymond Chandler
The Blind Assassin (2000), by Margaret Atwood
Blood Meridian (1986), by Cormac McCarthy
Brideshead Revisited (1946), by Evelyn Waugh
The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1927), by Thornton Wilder
C - D
Call It Sleep (1935), by Henry Roth
Catch-22 (1961), by Joseph Heller
The Catcher in the Rye (1951), by J.D. Salinger
A Clockwork Orange (1963), by Anthony Burgess
The Confessions of Nat Turner (1967), by William Styron
The Corrections (2001), by Jonathan Franzen
The Crying of Lot 49 (1966), by Thomas Pynchon
A Dance to the Music of Time (1951), by Anthony Powell
The Day of the Locust (1939), by Nathanael West
Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927), by Willa Cather
A Death in the Family (1958), by James Agee
The Death of the Heart (1958), by Elizabeth Bowen
Deliverance (1970), by James Dickey
Dog Soldiers (1974), by Robert Stone
F - G
Falconer (1977), by John Cheever
The French Lieutenant's Woman (1969), by John Fowles
The Golden Notebook (1962), by Doris Lessing
Go Tell it on the Mountain (1953), by James Baldwin
Gone With the Wind (1936), by Margaret Mitchell
The Grapes of Wrath (1939), by John Steinbeck
Gravity's Rainbow (1973), by Thomas Pynchon
The Great Gatsby (1925), by F. Scott Fitzgerald
H - I
A Handful of Dust (1934), by Evelyn Waugh
The Heart is A Lonely Hunter (1940), by Carson McCullers
The Heart of the Matter (1948), by Graham Greene
Herzog (1964), by Saul Bellow
Housekeeping (1981), by Marilynne Robinson
A House for Mr. Biswas (1962), by V.S. Naipaul
I, Claudius (1934), by Robert Graves
Infinite Jest (1996), by David Foster Wallace
Invisible Man (1952), by Ralph EllisonL - N
Light in August (1932), by William Faulkner
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (1950), by C.S. Lewis
Lolita (1955), by Vladimir Nabokov
Lord of the Flies (1955), by William Golding
The Lord of the Rings (1954), by J.R.R. Tolkien
Loving (1945), by Henry Green
Lucky Jim (1954), by Kingsley Amis
The Man Who Loved Children (1940), by Christina Stead
Midnight's Children (1981), by Salman Rushdie
Money (1984), by Martin Amis
The Moviegoer (1961), by Walker Percy
Mrs. Dalloway (1925), by Virginia Woolf
Naked Lunch (1959), by William Burroughs
Native Son (1940), by Richard Wright
Neuromancer (1984), by William Gibson
Never Let Me Go (2005), by Kazuo Ishiguro
1984 (1948), by George Orwell
O - R
On the Road (1957), by Jack Kerouac
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1962), by Ken Kesey
The Painted Bird (1965), by Jerzy Kosinski
Pale Fire (1962), by Vladimir Nabokov
A Passage to India (1924), by E.M. Forster
Play It As It Lays (1970), by Joan Didion
Portnoy's Complaint (1969), by Philip Roth
Possession (1990), by A.S. Byatt
The Power and the Glory (1939), by Graham Greene
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961), by Muriel Spark
Rabbit, Run (1960), by John Updike
Ragtime (1975), by E.L. Doctorow
The Recognitions (1955), by William Gaddis
Red Harvest (1929), by Dashiell Hammett
Revolutionary Road (1961), by Richard Yates
S - T
The Sheltering Sky (1949), by Paul Bowles
Slaughterhouse Five (1969), by Kurt Vonnegut
Snow Crash (1992), by Neal Stephenson
The Sot-Weed Factor (1960), by John Barth
The Sound and the Fury (1929), by William Faulkner
The Sportswriter (1986), by Richard Ford
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1964), by John le Carre
The Sun Also Rises (1926), by Ernest Hemingway
Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), by Zora Neale Hurston
Things Fall Apart (1959), by Chinua Achebe
To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), by Harper Lee
To the Lighthouse (1927), by Virginia Woolf
Tropic of Cancer (1934), by Henry Miller
U - W
Ubik (1969), by Philip K. Dick
Under the Net (1954), by Iris Murdoch
Under the Volcano (1947), by Malcolm Lowry
Watchmen (1986), by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
White Noise (1985), by Don DeLillo
White Teeth (2000), by Zadie Smith
Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), by Jean Rhys
All-TIME Graphic Novels
Berlin: City of Stones (2000), by Jason Lutes
Blankets (2003), by Craig Thompson
Bone (2004), by Jeff Smith
The Boulevard of Broken Dreams (2002), by Kim Deitch
The Dark Knight Returns (1986), by Frank Miller
David Boring (2000), by Daniel Clowes
Ed the Happy Clown (1989), by Chester Brown
Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth (2000), by Chris Ware
Palomar: The Heartbreak Soup Stories (2003), by Gilbert Hernandez
Watchmen (1986), by Alan Moore & Dave GibbonsAbout the List
So I've embarked myself on a journey to read this list. (Gulp!) Let's see how that goes. I've already read several of them, but it never hurts to put a good book on repeat.
All in all, welcome to our blog. We're always open to suggestions. Please remember, we're still a work in progress!
Okay, I have a funny. I clicked on Spellcheck, and it highlighted Macchiato. What did it think I should replace it with? How about MACHETE! That cracked me up! Machete's don't taste nearly as good as macchiatos. Funny!
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