75 Books...More or Less! discussion

So, I'm also getting a late start and am going to try thinking back to January. I'm a senior in college, so bear with me if some of my book choices seem... unserious. I only have a few minutes a day/ an hour a week to read (and that's why I'm glad I'm graduating soon!) Since I'm looking back, the first few are out of order.

1. Guards! Guards! -Terry Pratchett
2. Feet of Clay- Terry Pratchett
3. Equal Rites- Terry Pratchett
4. Men at Arms- Terry Pratchett
5. Night Watch- Terry Pratchett
6. Going Postal- Terry Pratchett
7. Making Money- Terry Pratchett
8. Thud!- Terry Pratchett
9. Night Probe!- Clive Cussler (Fantastic! Let's annex Canada. Oh, Clive Cussler, you're always great for a ridiculously good time!)
10. Jingo- Terry Pratchett (there is a theme here...)
11. The Fifth Elephant- Terry Pratchett
12. Lords and Ladies- Terry Pratchett
13. Book of Air and Shadows- Michael Gruber (I've been trying to read this book for 2 years, never could find a copy. I read it and I enjoyed it thoroughly. It was worth the wait)
14. Moving Pictures- Terry Pratchett
15. Soul Music- Terry Pratchett
16. Carpe Jugulum- Terry Pratchett (Okay, the last Terry P for awhile).
17. The Code of the Woosters- PG Wodehouse (more English humor)
18. Katherine- Anya Seton- (I'm a medieval History major, and a softie to boot, so this book was fantastic. And vaguely true (some embellishment, sure) which, to me, made it even better. I love the powerful female character who isn't afraid to follow her heart, and if it is a historical fact, well, that's great! (See Isabella or Eleanor of Aquitaine by Alison Weir)
19. Monks Hood- Ellis Peters (See- Medieval History Major)
20. The Virgin in Ice- Ellis Peters (ditto. And. Olivier- swoon!)
21. St. Peter's Fair- Ellis Peters
22. The Leper of St. Gilles- Ellis Peters (That Brother Cadfael is so clever)
23. World Without End- Ken Follett (The slightly less astonishing sequel to Pillars of the Earth, if only because he followed the same basic [at the bare bones:] structure of the first novel. Then again, that plot structure kept me flipping pages for hours, so it works well. The only complaint I have, and it's a minor one. His female characters are a little 'too' empowered, to the point of anachronism. But other than that, a fantastic book.)

24. The Beekeeper's Apprentice- Laurie King (I'm coming late to the party on these books, I realize. Give me a break, I'm only in my 20s. Anyway, I wasn't sure what I would think about this series, since I normally don't like fan fiction. [Seriously, P & P was fantastic, why do I need to read endless books about Mr. Darcy? Isn't my imagination enough??? end rant:] But this was surprisingly good. For one thing, the characterization of Sherlock Holmes added to Conan Doyle's character, without inexplicably saying "Oh, well they just got it all wrong." The style is obviously not Conan Doyle's either, which is also refreshing for a "character theft." And finally, there's a sense that King could have made up Sherlock Holmes w/out help. In other words, King's a great author who happens to be borrowing from a classic, not an okay author who needs the classic to bolster mediocre writing. All in all, a very very good book and I'm only sad that I discovered it so late that it's hard to find the next books in the series. (Mom, could you send me some?)

Cait, welcome! I really enjoy your comments so far. Thanks for joining the 75 challenge.

25. Here be Dragons- Sharon Kay Penman (An epic romance/ historical fiction involving 99.9% real people- only 3 characters were invented. A story about Llywelyn the Great of Wales and his wife Joanna, the illegitimate daughter of King John of England [Of Robin Hood fame, yes}, this book addresses a major emotional pull that must have been very common in medieval noble marriages. Joanna loves her dad [who is portrayed very realistically. he was loved by the common people, but couldn't for the life of him keep the loyal of barons. Thus- the Magna Carta:] and she loves her husband, but they are constantly at war. Can she and Llywelyn get past her conflicted loyalties? It took 700 pages and about 48 years to find out, but it was a magnificent read through and through. This is a book in which the characters are the main point [the plot you can find by reading up on Welsh/ English history on wikipedia:], and Penman did an excellent job making real people come alive without completely distorting historical reality. I believe she's actually a medieval historian rather than an author, so she knows her stuff. Luckily, this is just the first in a trilogy, so I know there's more to come!)

Cait, you've sold me! I'm adding this book to my "To Read" list. I read "When Christ and His Saints Slept" by Penman, and although there were many bleak parts in that particular novel, I found it fascinating.

Kay, happy to help. I really loved that book. Unfortunately, my class and thesis work is coming to a climax, so I have to put off continuing the series for a few weeks.

26. Silent in the Grave- Deanna Raybourn. This book is totally escapist on my part. The hero is dark, handsome, mysterious, part-Gypsy... and psychic? The plot was secondary to this amazing 19th century Private Eye/ Jack of All Trades. In fact, I don't really remember the plot. But he was fantastic and makes the whole book worth reading.

27. The Name of the Rose- Umberto Eco. Very complex melange of history, mystery, mysticism, and medieval philosophy. I was familiar with most of what they talk about, but I could see how it would be a very difficult book to digest if one had not majored in medieval history. My thesis advisor has held seminars on the book before, and with good reason. This book opens the door to all sorts of interesting discussions of medieval philosophy, and since Eco is a historian above all else, he gets it right. The flights of imagination, the way the poor novice takes everything to heart, all of that is very characteristic of the thought process back then. The world is symbols. Anyway, the plot itself was somewhat obvious, but it was still worth reading to see what would happen. Perhaps take notes while reading to keep the ideas straight?

28. Valhalla Rising- Clive Cussler. Okay, taking a break from the philosophy. Clive Cussler is always good for an enjoyable, quick, and mindless read. Oddly enough, this one mentions Jules Verne, 20,000 Leagues under the Sea, and the Mysterious Island. I'm reading those books in French for a class right now, and I had to laugh. Dirk is amazing as per usual, and he is constantly surrounded by women, danger, and cars. Side note: the number of times characters make disparaging remarks about the capabilities of women in the guise of compliments/ romantic notions is striking. Perhaps someone should welcome Mr. Cussler into the 21st century, where woman can do deep sea diving just as well as men, and there is no darn reason to point it out? (I mean, how ridiculous is it to say "You know, he's a great diver, for a brown-eyed person"? Diving... not the most gender-advantaged sport out there.) But it's all in good fun.

29. The Wheel of Darkness- Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child- The most recent Agent Pendergast novel. These are "mystery" stories that feel less like detective novels and more like something Stephen King would write. The answer is always disturbing and seemingly paranormal, though not that paranormal. This one includes his semi-immortal ward, Constance Greene (long story), and she shows much more backbone and wherewithal than I thought that she would have the last time she appeared. Again, the mystery itself was not all that surprising, but the journey was the point.

Cait wrote: "26. Silent in the Grave- Deanna Raybourn. This book is totally escapist on my part. The hero is dark, handsome, mysterious, part-Gypsy... and psychic? The plot was secondary to this amazing 19t..."

If you get a chance, read the two sequels. They are so much better than the first! Deanna is really getting better with each book she writes.



Oh, and about the cover of SOTM, the book is so much more than what that cover makes you think... and in both books you get much more Brisbane to make it worthy. *grin*

Thanks for the tip, Margaret! I'm in a podunk town with a small library, and I have no money to speak of, so I'll have to wait a while before I can read more from the series. It is the sort that I'd want to read more of, if only because the character is so entertaining.

Have you tried PaperbackSwap? It makes living in the boonies much easier for the book connoisseur, I speak from experience. :) And almost all books end up being $3 or less. The third one just came out, so no rush on it. It will still be fresh for a good while.

Hmmm. I've heard about PaperbackSwap. But I'm also possessive of my books. If I come into money (what's that quote about I buy books and then, if there's money left over, rent and food) I'll even buy books that I loved and have already read. I'm not sure I could swap away the ones I've read. At least I've got enough friends with the same taste that we can cycle books around to help each other out.

I know the feeling.

She could do paperback swap with her Mom, but I read the Raybourn books out of the library

I already paperback swap with my Mom. It's just sometimes she doesn't know about it.

*snicker*

Cait wrote: "27. The Name of the Rose- Umberto Eco. Very complex melange of history, mystery, mysticism, and medieval philosophy. I was familiar with most of what they talk about, but I could see how it would..."

I read "The Name of the Rose" years ago and loved it. I bought a book a couple of years ago called "The Key to the Name of The Rose" that is an annotated guide and someday will reread it along with the key and I'm sure that will add a lot more depth to my understanding. BUT - so many good books on the to-read shelf that it hard to find time to reread old favorites. Maybe I will make a resolution to do one "reread" a month.

Re Message 15 - Do you really think Mom is THAT dumb?! Anyway, those books that you have "misplaced" are safely tucked away on mom's bookshelf.

30. The Serpent's Tale by Ariana Franklin. A woman trained essentially as a medical examiner with anachronistic ideas in medieval England. Okay, so the plot was good, and her emotions were comprehensible (the character's recently had a baby and can't stand being separated). BUT just because medieval Europe was backwards, feminisim-wise (if that's a word) does not mean that you can give a character a Jewish or Arab background to explain her forwardness. Everyone was convinced that women should not be practicing medicine, not just those mud-dwelling Europeans.

There are all sorts of anachronisms that I can take, but if you're going to place a story in the 12th century, don't make the main character liberal by today's standards!

31. A Monstrous Regiment of Women by Laurie King. Mary Russell is back and this time exploring post=WW1 feminism and religion. She meets a woman-mystic who also preaches social responsibility and equal rights. An interesting blend of politics and Christian spiritualism, all with the backdrop of the social upheaval of the lost generation. Plus, the angst of having a fiance with a drug addiction and PTSD. Even more reasons why being a young Englishwoman in 1919 would not have been fun. The plot itself was good, and though it became obvious what the crime was and the who was sort of obvious, the question of how Russell and Holmes were going to stop them was still up in the air.

Of course, this time instead of being bombed, Russell is kidnapped and subjected to perhaps the most Victorian melodrama I've ever heard. And yet so fitting with the style and tone of the novel that I wasn't at all annoyed.

All in all, another very very enjoyable read. This series is character-driven, and Ms. King has made the characters delicious!

32. Blood Rites- Jim Butcher. Harry Dresden, Chicago's only wizard private detective, and the rest of the wizards are at war with the Vampires. Unfortunately for Harry, he was pretty much the instigator (if this were WW1, he would be Archduke Ferdinand), so now he's got a bunch of vampires gunning for him. To make matters worse, his paying client is under the Evil Eye... and there are vampires working for him as well.

If you've never read a Dresden Files book, this is not the one to start with. The books really do not stand alone because so much happens in each that is important to the overall story arch. But, they're a ton of fun. Harry is a nice guy who made one, albeit major, mistake in his life, and he's not only trying to atone and use his powers for good, he's also struggling to prove himself to be a good guy. These books are a mix between the hard-boiled detective genre (with mob bosses and seedy underworlds) and the typical fantasy books. Butcher includes everything he can think of, this world is very rich. I absolutely love these books, and I'd recommend them for a wide range of readers.

33. Dead Beat- Jim Butcher. Another Dresden files. This time Harry's fighting necromancers, more vampires (they don't go away very easily), and his own, personal demon. He also takes a side trip to the Field Museum, which brought back memories from when I went to Chicago at age 9, and borrows Sue, the tyrannosaurus rex, for a road trip.

This one was fast-paced, even for a Dresden book, and I don't think he had a paying customer. Sometimes, when you're the only wizard in town and some necromancers are trying to attain god-like status, you have to work pro bono.

34. His Majesty's Dragon- Naomi Novik. This is the first in a series of books. It's the Napoleonic Wars, with dragons. One captain in the Royal Navy happens upon a dragon egg, which hatches and imprints on him. Since they're independent creatures, dragons won't allow just anyone to be their rider, so Captain Laurence is forced to leave the Navy and join the Aerial Corps instead. It's a mix between Eragon (without magic) and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and Horatio Hornblower. The dragons act more as airplanes, there is no magic in this world, but many, including Temeraire (the dragon) are quite intelligent and emotionally attached to their riders. It's very very good, the relationship between Laurence and Temeraire is believable. Temeraire is a well-developed character, not just a narrative device.

A very good book, especially for fans of alternative histories or the Napoleonic Wars.

35. Throne of Jade- Naomi Novik. The second of the Temeraire series. While I continue to enjoy the characters (they're a great deal of fun, and very realistic, I think), I did not like this plot as much. We take a break from the war against Napoleon to deal with a diplomatic crisis in China. I personally found the fighting part the most interesting part of the first novel, so I was somewhat disappointed. But, the ending does set us up for more character development and a non-martial plot line for later, which I am interested to see how it goes.

These were both very fast reads, and I will probably read them again before I get my hands on the third book (who knows when that will be).

aaahh, I predict week after next...although I agree, the first one is the best.

Margaret wrote: "Have you tried PaperbackSwap? It makes living in the boonies much easier for the book connoisseur, I speak from experience. :) And almost all books end up being $3 or less. The third one just came ..."

I love paperbackswap.com use it all the time. My other fav is swaptree.com where they set up trades with other people, usually three way trades. Lots of times I'm able to get books here when there is a long waiting list on paperback swap

36. A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. Dust off your swords, break out your poisons, write your declarative speeches, and take a turn at the Wall. If anyone had told the War of the Roses like this in a history class, we'd all be medieval history majors. This is an excellent book, excellent. Definitely for adults, I think Martin started the gritty fantasy trend. Lots of explicit talk about sex and some really weird sex at that. And lots of people die. I think I'm gonna get a pot going to see who dies next and in what manner.

This is basically, if you could break this series down, a fantasy book with very, very few fantasy aspects (some special steel, zombies?, people who can meld minds with animals, and the very occasional dragon). What it's really about is lots of people killing each other to get the throne of the seven kingdoms. And don't think that being noble or having good character will help you either. Lots of people die. LOTS of people, and we haven't even made it the second book of the 7 book series (which isn't finished yet either). Many of the characters, even the "good" ones, do very unsavory things, and at this point I have no idea who's going to come out on top... or if anyone's going to come out on top.

Martin tells each chapter from a different character's perspective (though only certain characters get a story). That way, you have lots of people to follow, root for, and then get mad when they die too. The world is huge, and this way he can introduce several story lines across the world without breaking the general narrative. It does make for a disjointed story sometimes. The reader may know more about what's happened then the characters, important events are told through the eyes of children, and sometimes something critical happens without direct narration. Not that this trope is unwelcome. You literally have no idea where you're going, but it's clear where you came from. For someone who's read a ton of fantasy, a book series where I don't have the main characters picked out by the end (I think I do, but I won't bet on it) and who feels like the ending is always apparent a third of the way through a book, I really appreciate being as caught off guard as the characters.

37. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris. AND
38. Living Dead in Dallas also by Charlaine Harris.

Having watched Twilight: the Movie, I felt like reading some serious vampire romance novels. These books are hard to define. In some senses, they follow the standard romance novel à la Harlequin: girl who could never love for some bizarre (telepathic) reason finds the one man she could love (she can't read vampire minds). But then they're also detective novels where she uses her telepathy to deal with vampire problems to keep them from just eating people. Very bizarre. But, it really doesn't matter because Vampire Bill is sexy in an undead way, and Harris does a fair job making their relationship understandable. I can see how being telepathic would make life difficult, and you'd be willing to put up with a lot (undead) just to have mental silence. That being said, if this were a real romance novel, the viking vampire would win out over a civil war hick vampire.

Cait wrote: "37. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris. AND
38. Living Dead in Dallas also by Charlaine Harris.

Having watched Twilight: the Movie, I felt like reading some serious va..."

hehehe... just keep reading :)

Serious as in not for 13 year old girls. And no, those books are not for 13 year old girls. Not at all.

39. The Devil's Novice- Ellis Peters- another Brother Cadfael mystery. They're less about the mystery and more about the people.

40. A Clash of Kings- George R.R. Martin- The second in the "Song of Ice and Fire" series. You get to meet a few new characters and others die. I'm beginning to see where this is going, I think. We'll see if I'm actually right or not. A very good series.

41. River God- Wilbur Smith. I didn't like this one all that much. It took me about 100 pages before I really got into the story, and the pacing was bizarre. The first half discusses about a month and the last 100 pages cover 20 years. Other than the bizarre pacing, it was a fun read. Definitely a summer, sitting on the beach book.

42. A Letter of Mary- Laurie R. King- the third Mary Russell/ Sherlock Holmes book.

43. Dead Man's Ransom- Ellis Peters- another Brother Cadfael.

44. Misenchanted Sword- Lawrence Watt-Evans
45. Mystic and Rider- Sharon Shinn
46. The Moor- Laurie R. King
47. The Fallen Man- Tony Hillerman

48. The First Eagle- Tony Hillerman

I've been on a 2 week beach trip, so lots of books

49. The Old Fox Deceiv'd- Martha Grimes- The second Richard Jury novel. Jury and Plant meet up in a coastal village (not sure where, somewhere north) where a family secret from the past has caused a murder in the present. Like all her books, the real draw is the colorful people who inhabit these little communities.

50. Curse of the Phaorohs- Elizabeth Peters- The second Amelia Peabody book. They're digging in a "cursed tomb" as a favor to a very attractive widow. Luckily the Father of Curses and Peabody are there to deal with whatever spirits, demons, or greedy men might come their way.

51. The Mummy Case- Elizabeth Peters- This time, young Ramses (not his real name) comes along. He's precocious, the way people refer politely to talkative, smart children who get on people's nerves. The mummy case in question keeps showing up uninvited. Who moves it? Why?

52. Club Dead- Charlaine Harris. Sookie goes off to Mississippi because Bill has been kidnapped by an old girlfriend. Along the way, she adds to her collection of delicious men by meeting Alcide, werewolf. He's the most like any men she'd ever known (still can't really hear what he's thinking though), so he's quite the temptation. If only he didn't have a psycho ex-girlfriend.

53. Dead to the World- Charlaine Harris. Sookie's brother goes missing, witches are trying to take over the vamp bar in Shreveport, and Sookie so does not want to deal with Bill, Eric, Alcide, and Sam right now. Except that Eric's with her, and he's lost his memory. But he's still very sexy. (side note: these books are really silly, but I find them a guilty pleasure. Better than Twilight, muuuuch better.)

54. Falls the Shadow- Sharon Kay Penman. I finally got a hold of the second Welsh Princes book (see Here Be Dragons). This one was a bit more disjointed, because she wanted to talk about two contemporaries at the same time, Simon de Montfort and the next Llwelyn. In her author's note she explains that she focused on Simon and the third book will be about Llwelyn again. But, it seems to have taken her half the book to decide, and it's very loosely tied to Wales. Other than that, it was very good. Another peek behind the curtain to a great moment in English history.

Cait, you are only 21 books away from finishing!