Challenge: 50 Books discussion
Finish Line 2011
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MB's Tally of 2011
Book 1The Pregnant Widow by Martin Amis
Rating: 3 Stars - Interesting story, but I just couldn't feel an emotional connection with any of the characters.
Book 2Black Powder War by Naomi Novik
Rating: 3 Stars - I enjoy the Temeraire series, but Novik got a little bogged down with trying to be realistic with the military history in the second half of the book. Things just started to drag.
Book 3Sleepers by Lorenzo Carcaterra
Rating: 3 Stars - I'm not quite sure what to think yet. It was a quick read, so I must have been interested. However, the story was pretty depressing, and it definitely read more like fiction than nonfiction.
Book 4Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
Rating: 3 Stars - Not quite sure what to make of this one yet.... It didn't dislike it, but I wasn't in love with it either.
Book 5Shadowfever by Karen Marie Moning
Rating: 4 Stars - Very quick read, but I'm sad that it's the last in the Fever series. However, Ms. Moning is writing another novel set in the Fever world.
Book 6The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Rating: 5 Stars - Wow...that was emotional. I finished the book much more quickly than I had original thought I would, probably because of how emotionally involved I became. I just couldn't help but think of how glad I was not to be raised in the manner in which Jeannette Walls was raised, and yet I'm sure it made her the incredibly strong and talented individual she is today. Now, I need to get her next book....
Book 7The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Rating: 4 Stars - A very quick and interesting read that definitely kept my attention. I'm generally not the biggest fan of dystopian literature, although I have found myself reading more of it lately. This is probably the most enjoyable of the lot.
Book 8Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Rating: 5 Stars - I am really enjoying this trilogy! Actually, I think I enjoyed the second installment more than the first because I felt more emotionally connected to the characters at this point.
Book 9Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Rating: 4 Stars - It's so sad that the trilogy is over.... I could keep reading these for a long time, granted, poor Katniss couldn't go through much more.
Book 10Washington Square by Henry James
Rating: 2 Stars - Classic or no, it was just a bit boring and predictable. Plus, the way the female characters were portrayed left me wanting.
Book 11The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Rating: 2 Stars - I enjoyed The Hunger Games so much that I decided to give dystopian literature another shot...didn't work out so well this time, though...probably because I could envision this future actually happening, but who knows.....
Book 12The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
Rating: 2 Stars - Too much jabber, not enough action....nuff said.
Book 13Troublemaker Book 2 by Janet Evanovich
Rating: 1 Star - These books are just silly. I like the Metro Girl series, and I just wish Janet Evanovich would go back to writing the regular series books.
Book 14Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
Rating: 3 Stars - Interesting take on the Jane Eyre story, but I prefer the original.
Book 15The Night Tourist by Katherine Marsh
Rating: 2 Stars - Granted this is a children's book, but I found that the story needed to be fleshed out a little more. And, the Latin references were throwaways that gave little to the story.
Book 16Pale Demon by Kim Harrison
Rating: 4 Stars - I really enjoy this series. I can't really pin down the exact reasons, but I enjoy it.
Book 17How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire by Kerrelyn Sparks
Rating: 2 Stars - This was just brainless, melodramatic fluff. Granted, I knew what I was getting into when I decided to read the book...but, still...utter fluff.
Book 18Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik
Rating: 4 Stars - Still enjoying this series, and this installation was definitely better than the last.
Book 19Total Flirt: Tips, Tricks, and Techniques Every Girl Needs to Get the Guy by Violet Blue
Rating: 2 Stars - Entertaining in its own way, but the advice wasn't something I couldn't have learned from reading Cosmopolitan. At least it was free.
Free advice is worth what you pay for it.
Book 20The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Rating: 4 Stars - I thought it was a little slow going at first, but I understood that the story would not have been as good if Larsson hadn't given us the background. Also, I enjoyed the fact that he didn't end the story with Martin's death as so many other authors would have. This left the story open for a sequel but not too open. I wouldn't want to wait until the next book to find out what happened with Wennerstrom.
Book 21Can You Ever Forgive Me?: Memoirs of a Literary Forger by Lee Israel
Rating: 3 Stars - A quick and interesting tale of Lee Israel fall into a life of white collar crime...luckily she got out without jail time.
Book 22Ada Blackjack: A True Story of Survival in the Arctic by Jennifer Niven
Rating: 4 Stars - Ada's story was not a happy one, but it was quite interesting. Also, I was pleased that the book managed to focus on her traveling companions as well, since they were a very large part of the sad event.
Book 23The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
Rating: 4 Stars - I took a bit of a break right in the middle of this one, but as soon as I picked it back up, I blew through the last 2/3 of the book.
Book 24Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain
Rating: 4 Stars - I realize how much I didn't experience even though I worked in the food service industry my whole way through college. Now, I have a friend whose little sister is in culinary school, and definitely need to tell her to read this.
Book 25Cats for Dummies by Gina Spadafori
Rating: 4 Stars - Very informative and prepared me a little more for the arrival of my cat, which is only a few days away.
Book 26The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
Rating: 4 Stars - I managed not to bawl until the last ten pages, and then, it was just running mascara, red nose, the whole nine yards. It was a great story, and I empathized with Enzo on so many levels.
I salute you as a woman of great emotional fortitude. I, on the other hand, went through a box of Kleenex.
Book 27The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson
Rating: 4 Stars - I have really enjoyed this series and am extremely sad that Larsson is no longer around to write more.
Book 28Lover Mine by J. R. Ward
Rating: 3 Stars - I continue to enjoy the underlying story in this series, but it's becoming overly melodramatic and a bit predictable.
Book 29Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris
Rating: 3 Stars - The series still has my attention, but this was not my favorite installment.
Book 30Lover Unleashed by J.R. Ward
Rating: 3 Stars - Another in Ward's series, and I liked this one better than the last....still, they're becoming very predictable. I miss some of the surprises of the earlier books, even if those surprises were not happy ones.
Book 31A Knight in Central Park by Theresa Ragan
Rating: 2 Stars - I give this book two stars rather than one only because I was able to finish it, but it was very difficult to make myself do so.
Book 32Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain
Rating: 4 Stars - I just love Anthony Bourdain, and I wish he would publish more.
Book 33The Passage by Justin Cronin
Rating: 4 Stars - I had a bit of trouble getting into the first 150 pages or so (unlike many readers who like the first half of the book more than the second), but once I did, whoa! I stayed up until the Kindle battery died last night, and then I had to get up this morning to finish. I was just a tad frustrated with the ending, though. I hate cliffhangers when it will be so long before the next installment.
Book 34The Biggest Loser 30-Day Jump Start by Cheryl Forberg
Rating: 4 Stars - I found this to be a very informative and easy to understand introduction to weight-loss, for mental stability, diet, and exercise.
Book 35The Last Town on Earth by Thomas Mullen
Rating: 2 Stars - Not that I expected a book about the flu epidemic of 1918 to be completely joyful, but geez was this depressing. You'd think at least one character would get a happy ending, but noooooo....
Book 36The Dark Enquiry by Deanna Raybourn
Rating: 4 Stars - I have to say, Raybourn manages to write a mystery to which I can't figure out the killer within the first few chapters. I find that I have that problem with many mysteries and have enjoyed finding this series....if only she published more often....
Book 37Heartless by Gail Carriger
Rating: 3 Stars - Sometimes Carriger's writing is a bit to flippant....and, I'm not sure if I like that or not. It does provide a change of pace from much of what I read.
Book 38Little Earthquakes by Jennifer Weiner
Rating: 4 Stars - An interesting, fictionalized look at the lives of women and motherhood....doesn't necessarily make me want to have a child anytime soon, though.
Mary Beth, I loved Little Earthquakes but, as you said, doesn't make me want to be a mother anytime soon. Well, I did read it six years ago... :)
Book 39Hit List by Laurell K. Hamilton
Rating: 3 Stars - I prefer the Anita Blake novels that involve more fighting, less sex.....when the whole book is sex, the sex loses something....not as much fun, I guess. So, I enjoyed this installment more than others, but Hamilton really needs to get a better editor. The writing really wasn't up to par, and there were typos all over the place.
Book 40Smokin' Seventeen by Janet Evanovich
Rating: 3 Stars - Yet another lackluster Stephanie Plum book...not even sure why I gave it 3 Stars. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either.
Book 41The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Rating: 3 Stars - A quick but very emotional read. I enjoy McCarthy's style, but the plot wasn't favorite. I find that I have read quite a few post-apocalyptic stories, but I don't care for them all that much...probably because they're depressing.
Book 42What a Westmoreland Wants by Brenda Jackson
Rating: 1 Star - Just utter melodramatic rubbish...I have to stop being lured in by the freebies on Kindle.
Book 43Spell Bound by Kelley Armstrong
Rating: 3 Stars - Meh....not bad, not great, and not my favorite in the series. There just wasn't much of a resolution, so the book felt like filler.
Books 44-46The Study Series Bundle by Maria V. Snyder
Rating: 4 Stars - I read all three books in the series within a week, so I would say that they were quite entertaining. Not the best literature on earth, but they surely kept my interest.
Book 47Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis
Rating: 3 Stars - Not as enjoyable as Lewis' The Big Short, but I found it at least informative, if not as hilarious as the back cover would have you believe.
Book 48Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr
Rating: 3 Stars - A bit too juvenile, but it did end better than it began.
Challenge: 50 Books
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BOOKS READ IN 2011: 55
BOOKS FROM BOOKSHELVES: 36