bohemiangirl's 2010 challenge

Hi everyone,
I'm new to librarything, but I already love it. I listen to a lot of books on cd since I drive a lot, but I read when I can. So far this year, I've read Left Behind by Tim LaHaye, listened to Eclipse by Richard North Patterson and tried to listen to Deadlock by Iris Johansen. I'm currently listening to Conviction by Richard North Patterson and reading Tribulation Force, the second in the Left Behind series.

Left Behind has been reviewed by plenty of people, but I found it an easy read and compelling enough to continue with the series. Eclipse by Richard North Patterson was disturbing. I liked that it ended on a real note and not some pollyanna, happy happy conclusion, but it still bothered me. I would definitely recommend it, though. Deadlock is the second Iris Johansen book I've tried to get through. Her work is repetitive and I get tired of her telling me how the characters feel instead of showing it through their actions. After two disks, it was back to the library!

Conviction has me hooked. It's a little heavy with the death penalty theme and I have to concentrate on all the legal descriptions since I don't have a law background, however, I'm captivated. I have two more disks to go and I really don't know how it's going to end! I've been listening at night before I go to bed and I keep saying, "I'll listen just a few more minutes," until I fall asleep. I started Tribulation Force today and I'm curious to see what the characters do and if the story stays believable or gets too weird.

Anyway, happy new year to everyone! Can't wait to see what people recommend so I can add them to my own reading list!

Welcome!

Thank you!

You are welcome. I hope you like it here with us friendly, well-read and chatty folk.

Welcome!

Welcome to the group!

Thank you for the warm welcome! Just wanted to update...finished Conviction last night and I cried and cried. I'll have to take a break from Richard North Patterson. He's a "real life drama" author, can't read too many in a row or I'll be depressed.

On a lighter noted, I started listening to a Kyle Mills book on the way to work - The Second Horseman. It's lighthearted and funny like I expected. Yay!

Question for you - do you avoid potentially sad books to listen to when you drive? Years ago I took a car trip with my kids and found a tape of A Call of the Wild for us to listen to. At one point I had to shut it off because I couldn't drive and cry.

Yes! I can't listen to anything really sad and drive. Sometimes I get caught off guard. I didn't read the summary for Fortunate Son by Walter Mosley and wow! I had to turn that off. I did finish the book, but I cried at home, not on the road. I tend to like mysteries and thrillers for the road. I can listen to other stuff while I cook or do my art at home.

Update on my reading! The Second Horseman was a disappointment. I kept getting distracted and it didn't hold my attention. I kept having to reset the CD. Oh well.

I did finish Tribulation Force. I was bored in the beginning, but it picked up about half way through and ended on a high note. I'm ready for book three! However, I'm going to take a break. I have several other library books on my shelf that I need to give a chance.

I'm going to finish Darkness Falls by Kyle Mills (a library playaway) and then read Still life with Crows by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. I like the two of them when they write together. I'm not too much into either of them when they write separately. I also have The Zero Hour by Joseph Finder. I've only read a few of his books and I like him so far.

This weekend is going to be cold and rainy so I will probably be home with my books and my beads...unless I go out to watch the game. :)

Looking forward to being stuck in the house (due to very cold weather) this weekend with my books and my beads! Didn't actually stay in the house lasst weekend. :)

#12: I am going to be doing the same thing. Snow and ice are on the way!

Hello and welcome! I also am a fan of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. I hope you enjoy Still Life with Crows :)

#14 Thank you! I said I was going to read Still Life with Crows next. However, I couldn't sleep last night and I started Nicolae, the third in the Left Behind series instead, and I almost finished it before the caffeine I drank earlier wore off! It was actually better than I expected.

I'm still working my way through The Disciple by Stephen Coonts on CD. It's getting better as I listen, but it's not as good as The Traitor, the first Tommy Carmellini novel I listened to. I was expecting more funny and fewer characters to keep track of. But I will be listening as I bead in my warm and comfortable craft room while it snows...

Just finished The Disciple. No real comments. It was just okay. I finished Nicolae yesterday, and I could've kicked myself for not picking up the next book in the series at the same time. (The libraries were closed due to snow, so I couldn't run right out and get it.) I know they are easy reads and it ended on a cliffhanger!

On another note, I finished one bead project and worked on a second. I should have time to take pictures and update my blog today. Yay!

Congratulations on finishing the bead project!

Thank you! I didn't get to update my blog, yet. But if you're interested, I have a link to my bead blog on my profile page. Here it is as well... http://bohemiasbeads.blogspot.com/

Pretty! Thanks for the link.

Thank you. So what are you reading right now? I'm enjoying Still Life with Crows, but I only get to read a few pages a night because I'm working so much.

#20: I have 20+ books going on right now. I don't think you want the whole list, lol.

#21: How do you keep that many plots straight? I can usually do three at a time, but that's it or I get confused! Are they all fiction or are some for work or something?

#22: No, they are not all fiction or for work. I read quite a bit of nonfiction as well. I have been reading this way for such a long time now, that I no longer really think about it - just second nature for me at this point.

Since my last post I've finished Still Life with Crows. I hadn't read any of the early Pendergast books and I liked it. I liked that it wasn't a supernatural theme. I really enjoyed his unlikely assistant Corrie and would like to see a story around her.

I was stuck at the airport and then in Baltimore at a conference during the snow last week. Luckily I took two books with me: The Safety of Deeper Water by Tim Poland and Soul Harvest, the 4th book in the Left Behind series. I picked up The Safety of Deeper Water because I liked the title. The book was a little slow, but not bad. The climax seemed a little forced, but the book overall was worth reading. It's nice to read something out of my regular comfort zone.

Soul Harvest was just okay. It was repetitive, which is a pet peeve of mine in novels. Say what you want and then demonstrate it with actions. Don't keep telling me what your characters feel! I finished Apollyon today and that one was much better. I'm ready to read Assassins!

I'm also listening to 20th Century Ghosts, which is a collection of short stories, on CD. So far, I'm liking every other story.

I've got 16 books down and 59 to go and I'm enjoying the ride! I'm starting book 9 of the Left Behind series today as well as Protect and Defend by Richard North Patterson. I'm going to try him again and hope I don't end up depressed or in tears. *sigh* Just got home from traveling for work, so I'm taking a day to rest up before I hit the grind again tomorrow.

Put your feet up, read a good book, do some beading, and forget about work! Doctor Stasia's prescription for the day :)

Thank you, doctor. :) Will do!

Hey, I'm not sure where to post this, so maybe you can give me some feedback. In the Left Behind series...Has anyone else commented that the only two black members of the Trib force get less character development than the others (and the main characters don't get that much) and then get killed off pretty quickly just like in a horror movie?

It's just strikes me that all these races and ethnicities are represented as coming together to make huge individual contributions to the Christian defense leading up to Armageddon and then there's one black doctor who lasts half a book and dies and a black pilot who never even meets the rest of the tribulation saints and dies. Don't black people come to Christ after the Rapture as well? (just an observation, no attitude) I'm still enjoying the books. *smile*

I have not read the Left Behind series, so afraid I cannot comment on it :)

Okay, I listened to this Philip Roth book, The Humbling, on cd. I don't know what the heck was up with that book. I guess the guy was having a midlife crisis or something, but I totally did not identify with the character.

I finished it because I was listening while doing other things and because it was short, only 3 cds. Anyway, I don't know if the story was really bad or if Dick Hill's performance was off or what, but I did not like it at all. I saw that other people really like the author so I might try another of his books, but if it's all about midlife crises and depression and old guys hooking up with women young enough to be their daughters and crap, then I guess I'm not his target audience!

#29: I think I will pass on that one. It does not sound like my cup of tea at all and I am evidently not the target audience either.

#30 I forgot to mention a really good one...Protect and Defend! It wasn't depressing (like I thought it might be) and ended on a lighter note than I expected. It was about abortion - the legal, sanitized look at it versus the real life drama of it. I didn't know that when I checked it out because there was nothing on the back of the cd box. Anyway, I highly recommend it. It was suspenseful without being overly dramatic. Considering how the other Richard North Patterson books I've read have ended, I was surprised at this one, but very grateful for him taking it easy on my emotions this time!

I finally finished Armageddon, #11 in the Left Behind series. Took me a while. The books are getting more preachy. Nobody talks the way the characters talk now. It's like all they do is quote the Bible. But I'll finish #12 Glorious Appearing, when I can get it from the library.

I also listened to That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo. I really liked it. The beginning was a little slow, but it picked up and finished well. It's another mid life crisis theme, but it was believable enough and had a hilarious wedding disaster scene that made me laugh out loud! Bottom line, no family is perfect. Stop running from your parents and your past. Focus on the best in them, acknowledge the worst and take responsibility for your own life. Words to live by. :)

Finally finished Armageddon. Whew! One more to go!

I just finished listening to Echo Park by Michael Connelly last night. I like the Harry Bosch character, but this book lost me at the end. Also, the set up for the whole conflict was whack. The whole time it was happening, I was thinking it didn't sound right. It just wasn't in character for Harry. Oh well. It was good through most of it.

I am Not Sidney Poitier was recommended to me by someone else on the site so I checked it out. If I don't have to work so much this weekend, I'll get started on it.

Congratulations on approaching the end of the Left Behind series!

@34. Thank you! I finished listening to Fugitive by Philip Margolin today. It was an easy fun book. Some parts were pretty unbelievable but it wasn't meant to be deep or have any huge message, so it was okay.

On another note, I finished my March bead journal project!! Woo hoo! I was worried I wouldn't finish within the month. I'm going to change my profile pic to the current completed project each month. I'm excited about April, but I have no idea what it will look like.

If you enjoyed Philip Margolin and Richard North Patterson, you might want to hunt out some of Phillip Shelby's books -- they are decent political thrillers. I'd also suggest R.N. Patterson's legal thrillers as an alternative to either the political books or Exile or Eclipse. I'd suggest Eyes of a Child. And for Shelby, maybe The Gatekeeper.

Glad to see you liked That Old Cape Magic. It's on the list for my 1010 Challenge, and I keep almost picking it up and then putting it to one side. On the other hand, I doubt very much I'll ever read the Left Behind series -- I'm not an evangelical and intensely dislike being preached at by anyone of any persuasion, particularly in the form of fiction! (One reason I don't like Patterson's political books, which come from the other side of the political spectrum.)

#35: I like March's project. Nice work.

#36 Thank you! I haven't heard of Phillip Shelby. I'll definitely check him out. You should go ahead and read That Old Cape Magic, or better yet, listen to it like I did.

Alcottacre, thank you. :)

Just finished listening to The Neighbor by Lisa Gardner. It dragged in some places, but overall I liked it. I can usually figure out a mystery pretty quickly, but this one kept me guessing. The audiobook used three narrators, which is a little unusual, but it worked.

I just started I Am Not Sidney Poitier by Percival Everett, which I had planned to start two weekends ago. So far it's quirky and funny and I'm enjoying it!

I'm also listening to The Taking by Dean Koontz. It's intense and odd. Koontz is on point in this one. So much better than his newest book...Breathless. I was mad when I finished that one because the ending was such a letdown.

#39: I already have I Am Not Sidney Poitier in the BlackHole, but my local library does not have it yet. I hope they get a copy soon.

I'll be interested to get your take on I Am Not Sidney Poitier. The only other book of his that I "own" is A History of the African-American People (Proposed) By Strom Thurmond; I have the Kindle edition of it on my BlackBerry.

Finished listening to The Taking. It was pretty good.

I'm working on I Am Not Sidney Poitier. It's not as funny as I thought at first but it's definitely odd. Some of what I think other people thought was funny is sorta sad to me. It seem like a mix of Forrest Gump and Fortunate Son by Walter Mosley. But I guess I'll see where it takes me.

#41 Do you like reading on your Blackberry? I would think the small screen would be frustrating. I just got a blackberry for work, and I like being able to check email since I'm not in the office alot. But I haven't even thought about reading a book on it.

No, I don't particularly like reading on my BlackBerry. I wanted to get a hard copy of the Everett book, but couldn't find it in any bookstore. When I saw that Amazon sold Kindle books for the BlackBerry I looked for the book, and it was available. I haven't read it yet, but I should get to it in the next couple of months, and I'll let you know what I think of the book, and reading it on the BlackBerry.

#41 Alright, just finished I am Not Sidney Poitier and I'm not sure what to think about it. It was weirder than I thought it would be. I'll post more on the A/AA Lit group.

FaeFever by Karen Marie Morning was pretty bad. Was NOT a stand alone book. Ugh!

#46: Too bad about that one. I hope you like your next read better!

#47 I did! Just finished 9 Dragons by Michael Connelly. I loved it! I really like the Harry Bosch character anyway, and I found this one on the new book shelf at the library. I had no idea it was time for Connelly to put out another book, so it was a nice surprise. It was a fast read and if you like detective novels, I highly recommend it.

#48: I love Connelly's Harry Bosch series. Glad you liked that one!

Finished Lost Light by Michael Connelly last night. It was so good. Gotta read the rest of the Harry Bosch series.

Still working on Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving. It's taking me a while to get through that one.

Planning to get to The Glorious Appearing soon.

OK, I finally finished Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving. It was okay. It was really, really long. I saw the ending coming a long way before the end. I skipped a disk or two because I got tired of the drawn out detail. I really like the Ketchum character. He was hilarious and his attitude reminded me of my granddad, who was cranky and cussed a lot.

I started Glorious Appearing a few days ago, but I must be tired of the series. I really could care less now. I'm just trying to finish it because it's the last book in the series. You would think I would be riveted. But I'm not.

Hopefully your next read will be a better one for you!

Finally, finally finished the Glorious Appearing....oh...my....goodness. What a letdown! Talk about anticlimactic! Ugh! But it's over.

On a better note, I listened to Road Dogs by Elmore Leonard and it was pretty good! Starting Ghost in Love today while I practice what I learned in art class. Yay!

Totally forgot to mention I listened to Mother Eternal Ann Everlastin's Dead by Pat G'orge-Walker. It started off hilarious and then was just over the top. But I'll try something else by her later, anyway.

The Ghost in Love by Jonathan Carroll was sooo good! This was another book I picked up based on the title with no idea of what the book was about. I don't read too much fantasy...I think Faefever is the only other one I've read this year. You have to pay attention to "Ghost" to keep up. Even though I was enjoying it and didn't want it to end, the book did start to lag just a little at the end. The ideas about death, life, personality, relationships were unique, or at least ideas I had never considered before, so I would definitely recommend this one!

#55: Too bad my local library does not have that one. I will have to look further afield. Thanks for the recommendation!

#56 Cool! Can they do an interlibrary loan?

Finally got around to reading Orwell's Animal Farm. For some reason, I always had it mixed up in my mind with Animal House, the frat house movie. I always wondered why people called it a classic instead of a cult classic. Now I know...duh! :/ Anyway, I picked it up because I have been trying to read the classics...I've read several a year over the last few years and I've been slacking this year.

It was super cool! I really liked the donkey. The pigs and the sheep reminded me of several people who work for the city that I work for. ha ha! I sure hope that I don't fit any of the stereotypes in the book. I'd hate to be the one taking advantage of everybody else, but I'd also hate to follow along blindly as someone else screwed me and all my friends over as well.

Hope everybody enjoys the holiday weekend! I stopped by the library and picked up Zenzele by J. Nozipo Maraire based on a recommendation by someone in the A/AA Lit group, and I checked out Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler. I already read Parable of the Sower a while ago. Also got some audio books. I plan to hibernate with my books, some movies and my art for the weekend. I took two art classes last week at a conference and I want to practice what I learned.

#57: I am glad you liked Animal Farm. I read it not long ago for the first time myself.

Yes, my local library can do ILLs, but it seems like it takes forever and a day!

#58 Yes, they can take a long time. :)

I forgot to mention that I also finished The Motive by John Lescroart. I LOVED that book. The main character is a black Jewish former homicide detective turned administrator who gets called in on a case by the mayor. His best friend, a lawyer, also ends up on the case, and the whole investigation is just riveting. That's another one that I didn't want to end because it was so good. David Colacci does an excellent job with the narration.

#59: Adding The Motive to the BlackHole - and my local library actually has it!

#60 Awesome! I'm adding A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver to my wishlist. Never would have heard of it if I hadn't seen it on your list. Thanx!

Finished Hollywood Station by Joseph Wambaugh. Not really impressed. Lots of little stories loosely tied together. Adam Grupper did an amazing job with the narration considering how many characters were in the novel. One thing the author did well was not judge the character's actions. Not a whole lot of description during the conversations. Characters' behaviors and comments had to stand on their own instead of being interpreted. For that reason alone, I may try another Wambaugh book to see if he does it again. I hope the next book I choose has a more solid plot, though.

I have not read any of Wambaugh's fiction, only his nonfiction. Sounds like I can bypass Hollywood Station.

#63 Yeah, I wouldn't really recommend Hollywood Station, but I will try another Wambaugh novel.

Just finished Under the Dome by Stephen King. That man is amazing. The book is huge, so I listened to it (of course) as I drove around for work - 30 disks! But I never got bored! I did figure out what was going on long before it was revealed in the book, but the concept was pretty original. The ending was a little weak. However, all the good stuff leading up to it makes it worth reading. Raul Esparza's narration took some getting used to. That said, he did an excellent job differentiating all the characters. I would highly recommend this one!

I'm about halfway through Under the Dome. It is indeed awesome!

I've been waiting for Under the Dome to hit the used bookstores I visit. No luck so far.

#66 They should be coming soon since the paperback comes out next month, I believe. Is the wait list too long at the library?

Finished listening to The Girls by Lori Lansens, a fictional autobiography of craniopagus twin girls. It seems like it's loosely based on Lori and Reba Schappell because one twin is bigger than the other and they end up using a wheelchair similar to the one the Schappell twins use. Also, the girls can't see each other because of the way they are joined.

It was interesting to consider how normal the girls lives are despite being joined to another person. Their adoptive parents do an excellent job of raising them to care for themselves and know their self-worth. They travel as a family outside the country once, have different hobbies, get jobs, and live their own lives even as they live each other's life as well.

It was pretty good and very short - only 5 disks, 6 hours. Unfortunately, the book was abridged. I usually only listen to unabridged books. I want the whole thing! :)

#68: I loved The Girls when I read it last year. I cannot stand abridgements!! You definitely need to get the whole thing.

bohemiangirl35, it's one of the books I want to buy.

That book reminded me of the Schappell women as well. I used to see them all the time when I went shopping in Reading, but haven't seen them for a while. My aunt sees them in the courthouse where she works from time to time.

#69 alcottacre, OK! I'll look for the unabridged addition. Usually I make sure an audio book is unabridged before I check it out. This time I didn't look for the label until I had listened to the whole thing.

#70 goddesspt2, so you've read it already? It's very inspiring. If they can deal with that, my little problems should seem like nothing. I can't imagine time management when you HAVE to deal with someone else's schedule because you are attached.

#71 BookAngel_a, glad someone else saw the similarity!

Just finished City of Bones, one of the Harry Bosch novels. It was great, as they all are. I was sneaking peeks at the paperback every chance I got. Couldn't sleep Monday night, so I sat up and finished it.

Trying to decide what I should read next: Stephen King's Storm of the Century, which is due back on Friday, Zenzele or Parable of the Talents. I also have 61 hours, the new Jack Reacher novel on mp3, but I don't have to return that one. So many choices! I wish I had them all in audio format, though, because I'm working on several art pieces with deadlines and I would like to listen while I work instead of having to do either/or.

Just finished listening to Vanished by Joseph Finder. Enjoyed it very much. Didn't take a lot of concentration, which was a good thing for me right now. I'm about half-way through Zenzele, and I'm also enjoying that one. I would be done with that one since it's so short, but as I mentioned before, I do better with audio books because I'm in the car a lot and when I'm home, I'm working on art. Can't read and watch where I put the paint, ink and beads at the same time! :) Wish I had the summer off like a student so I could tackle more books on paper!

#74: Wish I had the summer off like a student so I could tackle more books on paper!

Don't we all?

Finished listening to The Bodies Left Behind by Jeffrey Deaver while I was filing at work. It was pretty good. Holter Graham has a good neutral voice and he doesn't make the women sound whiny. He does good with the kids voices as well.

The only other Jeffrey Deaver books I've read are in the Lincoln Rhyme series. "Bodies" didn't have the humor of that series, but it was suspenseful. I didn't guess everything right away.

Zenzele is absolutely beautiful!

#76: I will look for that one by Deaver when I am in the mood for more of his stuff.

I already have Zenzele in the BlackHole. I hope the library gets it soon!

#77 I am taking my time with Zenzele. It's a short book, but it is so beautifully written that I am consciously reading it slowly so I can savor it. Mmmmm.

I'm adding Zenzele to the tbr pile. If you and Stasia say it is beautifully written, then that's enough for me!

Finished Gone by Jonathan Kellerman and Zenzele. Gone was pretty good, nothing really remarkable, but I do like the Milo Sturgis character. He's very witty and I can picture his overweight, out-of-style dressing, sarcastic self searching for clues to crimes. Alex Delaware, the psychologist who works with the police department, is a good straight man to Milo's flamboyance.

Zenzele is a letter from a mother to her daughter who is leaving Zimbabwe to attend school at Harvard. The letters talk about her childhood in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe's colonial name), the country's struggle for independence, respecting the culture she was raised in even as her daughter experiences different ways of living. Many of her hopes and fears revolve around the younger generation leaving for higher education but not returning to use that knowledge to change their country, instead opting to assimilate into overseas cultures and come home for short visits. This is a short book, and I highly recommend it. I usually speed read books that I don't listen to, but I took my time with this one because the story was so engaging. I saw a lot of myself in the book.

#80: I hope my local library gets a copy of Zenzele soon. I would really like to read that one!

I keep putting off reading Zenzele, which I received last year; I'll read it in the next month or two.

I was able to obtain a copy from my local library and I'll be reading Zenzele in the next few weeks.

Still working my way through Blood Colony by Tananarive Due. It's not as good as My Soul to Keep and no way near as good as Joplin's Ghost. I'm hoping it picks up.

I tried to listen to The Paris Vendetta by Steve Berry but gave up about half-way through. Seemed like the whole book was supposedly rich, sophisticated crooks basically teasing each other saying, "I know something you don't know." Although I stopped changing disks at disk 4 or 5, I probably stopped listening at disk 1 or 2.

Half-listened to Rogue Forces by Dale Brown. Pretty boring and unbelievable. Basically a "cowboy" tale. Read like someone reliving and embellishing his glory days in the military.

I hope you find something you enjoy soon!

I found it! I just went through Lee Child's 61 Hours like water. I love me some Jack Reacher! What a man, what a man...kickin' the bad guys' asses, protecting the good people and cutting through the bull. Woo hoo!

My oh-so-pragmatic mom is always talking about Jack Reacher. She tried to make 61 Hours last as long as she could but finally had to give up half way through and just slammed through it. After hearing about him so much, I'm going to have to check this series out.

#86: I love the Jack Reacher series, but have not read 61 Hours yet. I definitely need to get a copy!

The Jack Reacher series has managed to escape my attention but I have added the first one to my wish list and will look for them.

I'm only up to the sixth Reacher book, but they're definitely top of my list right now. I'm glad to hear Lee Child is able to keep the series going.

@ goddesspt2, I told my mom I was mad that I was going through it so quickly, too!
alcottacre, I'm counting down till Worth Dying For in October!
mamzel, oh...my...goodness, you gotta read 'em.
drneutron, I'm not reading them or listening to them in order. They are good stand alone books.

When I left my job at the library, started working 60+ hour weeks with the police department, and first decided to try audio books, One Shot was the first audio book I ever listened to. I was hooked (on audio books and Jack Reacher)! It was so good that as I finished each CD, I would give it to my mom who would pass it to my brother. Needless to say, we saw a lot of each other then since we all live in separate houses! Anyway, that audio book gave me a way to keep up with my "reading" while I do my art or mindless filing or something at work and it got my mom and brother back into going to the library. Yay!

Since then, I've listened to all the Reacher books on CD that are available at my library, read a few and I have the first in the series on hold on a playaway right now. I couldn't do all the audio books back to back because that would be too much of Dick Hill at once. I like his narration, but I can't take too much of any one narrator at one time. :)

Although Reacher is blond and blue-eyed, I keep picturing him with darker hair and eyes. So when Lee Child mentions his looks, I have to think about it because that's not how I see him.

I haven't dated a white guy since college, but if that tall, blond-haired, blue-eyed, tough-guy drifter even looked like he might ask me out, I'd say yes! I love me some Jack Reacher! Woo hoo!

And Blood Colony is picking up, so that's good.

Finished Blood Colony today. Glad I stuck it out. It started slow but finished well. It's not a typical "vampire" novel although that's how I've seen it categorized. Immortals live in seclusion with some humans who have varying degrees of knowledge about the abilities of the immortals. All want (to varying degrees) to share the immortals' "living blood" to cure/heal humans of various afflictions so they do it carefully. On the street, it's known as glow and the government calls it a biological threat.

Fana, the main character is the child of an immortal and a human and is the first child born with the living blood and is worshiped by many of the other immortals. She doesn't know her own power. The antagonists are also immortal, but, of course, want to use their power for evil - ha, ha. A male child was born with the living blood and prophecy declares that he and Fana will marry and save the world or something like that. Only giving this 3 stars because it took so long to catch my attention and it was fairly predictable.

If you want to read a really incredible novel by Tananarive Due, check out Joplin's Ghost. 5 stars for that one!

Adding both Blood Colony and Joplin's Ghost to the BlackHole. Thanks for those recommendations.

Finished Scott Turow's Innocent last night.

Rusty Sabich, chief appellate court judge, is going through a mid-life crisis when he is accused of murdering his wife. This is the second time he's accused of murder and Tommy Molto, the prosecutor who failed to convict him the first time, is determined to have a solid case this go round. After Rusty's acquittal in the first case, Tommy Molto was accused of misconduct and investigated for a year before being reinstated in the Prosecuting Attorney's Office. The book explores the nuances and difficulties of proving a crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Rusty, of course, maintains his innocence, and not even the prosecutor is 100% sure of his guilt.

Each chapter of the book is told by one of the four main characters: Rusty - the accused, Tommy - the prosecutor, Nate - Rusty's son, and Anna - Rusty's former clerk with whom he has an affair.

I liked this one because I kept waiting to see who was going to figure out the other's secrets and because I wasn't sure myself if Rusty was guilty or not.

Finished Killing Floor by Lee Child today, the first of the Jack Reacher books. I liked it, but I could tell it was Child's earlier work. He has definitely tightened up on his writing since then. I was glad to get the back story on some of what has happened in later books. Everybody knows I love Jack Reacher so I'm gonna recommend this one as well. :)

Still working on Parable of the Talents and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. Both are good but not getting as much attention because they are solid books and not audio books. Worked another 12-hour day, and I'm tired. Goodnight everyone.

I hope you get some good rest!

ETA: I am curious about The Parable of the Talents. I have a couple of Butler's books here to read and one of these days I may actually get to them.

In Fever Dream by Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston, Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast discovers that the death of his wife Helen 12 years earlier by a lion attack was not an accident, but an elaborate murder. He immediately calls on his best friend Lt. Vincent D'Agosta to take a leave of absence from the NYPD to help him solve the crime. Captain Laura Hayward, D'Agosta's girlfriend, helps out a lot with this case. As smart as she is, I was a little irritated that the authors chose to make her the dimwit in several situations to show off Pendergast's intelligence and ability to manipulate.

Constance Greene makes a small appearance in the novel, returning from Australia after having a vision that Pendergast will need her help. However, on the way back to the U.S., she is accused of throwing her infant child overboard and is held on murder charges.

Overall the novel was great, but there were a couple of places where it was weak and I was thinking, "Really?" For example, when Helen Pendergast discovers that some residents of a small town were killed by the accidental release of some experimental viruses, she threatens to alert the authorities as soon as she gets back from her vacation in Africa. Huh?

The novel ends with a cliffhanger, but I'm not going to spoil it. If you like the other Pendergast novels, you will like this one as well.

Wait for Me by An Na is a YA novel about Mina, a teenaged daughter of Korean immigrant parents, who is living a lie to please her mother. She is lying about her grades which are not good enough to get into Harvard and stealing money from the family's dry cleaning business.

Umma pressures Mina to be perfect, to wear the right clothes, get the best grades so she can get into the best school, get the best job, meet the best husband, have the best family and of course, the best life. Mina feels smothered since her whole life is school, studying, and working at the dry cleaners. Her one escape is listening to her CDs in the closet.

Mina's parents hire a Mexican teenager Ysrale to do the heavy work after her father throws out his back. Her mother doesn't trust him because he's not Korean, but her father likes him. Mina's little sister Suna has a crush on him and Mina begins a relationship with him. He urges Mina to think for herself and live for herself. The relationship builds overnight and Mina starts skipping study sessions to be with Ysrale and takes Suna with her.

The book is typical teen angst. None of the characters are fully developed and they all seem like props or background noise to Mina's self-absorbed thoughts.

It's a very short book, but I only give it 3 stars.

#98: I need to get back to the Preston/Child books one of these centuries. . . when I learn how to clone myself so that I can read more!

I haven't been reading as much the last week or so. Too many things going on! I haven't been able to focus - reading the same page more than once or playing the cd only to realize I missed most of it. Grrrr. For those of you who are believers, if you wouldn't mind, please include me on your prayer list. Thanx.

I finished Ordinary Heroes by Scott Turow tonight. I generally don't like military history even when it's fictionalized. But I like Scott Turow so I gave it a try.

The book opens with Stewart Dubinsky's family handling the affairs after his father's death. Stewart finds a tin of old papers in his father's closet - letters from a fiancé and papers indicating his father faced a court martial. Stewart never knew that his father had a serious relationship other than his mother or that his father had been in the military.

When his mother won't talk about his father's service or the fiancé, Stewart, a retired journalist, starts investigating. He finds the lawyer who defended his father against the court martial in a nursing home and lies to get his hands on a memoir his father wrote while under house arrest. The manuscript describes his father's tenure as a military lawyer and how an assignment to question a suspected traitor led to his participation on the front lines of battle. Stewart learns that his parents were more complex than he knew and that everyone has the right to remake themselves into something new and leave their past behind.

I'm giving it four stars because I actually wanted to finish it. :)

I renewed Parable of the Talents yesterday. It's not capturing my attention like Parable of the Sower. I couldn't put Sower down. Talents, so far, is a lot of reminiscing and no action. I don't think Lauren's daughter has interacted with anybody so far.

I also renewed The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. When I have time, that one seems like it will be a quick read and I'm looking forward to it.

A friend purchased this Present Darkness by Frank Peretti for me. He said I won't be able to put it down once I get started. We'll see!

I hope you enjoy The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. I thought it very good.

I hope things start improving for you soon!

Thank you!

I just finished listening to The Bonesetter's Daughter, my first Amy Tan novel. I was mildly surprised that I liked the book. I did not read the synopsis, just picked it up off the shelf at the library. I've avoided The Joy Luck Club like a virus because I'm not into chick lit and thought the story was overexposed when the book and movie came out. And since then, I have not been interested in reading anything by Amy Tan.

However, as my first exposure to the author, The Bonesetter's Daughter was excellent. The story centers on mother/daughter relationships, secrets and knowing oneself. Ruth Young, daughter of a Chinese immigrant mother LuLing Liu Young, is a book doctor (ghost writer) and very busy with the details and insecurities of her own life. When she finally notices that her mother is exhibiting signs of Alzheimer's and dementia, she is scared, but puts her life on hold to figure out what's wrong and take care of her mother.

LuLing had tried to tell Ruth that something was wrong much earlier by writing her life's story, the things she knew were true and things she did not want to forget, and giving them to Ruth. Ruth did not make the time to translate the handwritten pages from mandarin Chinese to English and so did not read the story. Once she recognizes that LuLing is ill, Ruth has the pages translated and learns the reasons behind her mother's behavior as Ruth was growing up.

The book is told from both Ruth's and LuLing's voices. Ruth talks about the present day and life as the daughter of an immigrant who holds on to her Chinese belief system. LuLing's autobiography recounts her childhood and relationship with her mother and extended family. LuLing and her birth mother, Precious Auntie, were outcasts in their own family. Precious Auntie was raised to be confident and knowledgeable like a man and is abused for this audacity by a would-be suitor. He kills her father and groom on her wedding day. Precious Auntie, in her grief, ends up horrifically burned, but still alive and pregnant with LuLing. To spare the family embarrassment, Precious Auntie's sister becomes LuLing's mother and Precious Auntie is "only" her nursemaid. Tragedy and drama follow the web of secrets and superstitions.

By learning her mother's true history, Ruth is able to come to terms with her own relationship with LuLing, show compassion to her mother for her illness, and find her own identity.

#106: I have had The Bonesetter's Daughter in the BlackHole for a while now. I really need to get to it soon! Thanks for the reminder, Sacil.

I don't recommend The Abortionist's Daughter by Elisabeth Hyde. There is no mystery. I knew who the killer was from the start. The characters' behaviors don't make sense. The title is misleading. The author didn't have a clear idea of what the focus of the novel would be and it shows.

Stasia, you're welcome! :)

#108: OK, I will skip that one. I hope you like the next book you choose more than that one.

Finished two books recently - The Darkest Child by Delores Phillips and Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler.

The Darkest Child is amazing and heartwrenching. You might think from the title that the book will be about the darkest child in the family being treated differently because of her skin color, but it's not. Tangy Mae is the darkest skinned child in a family of 10 children, but she's also the odd one because she is smart, loves school and wants to graduate.

The story gives a realistic look at untreated mental illness and abuse in families. The Quinn family is poor (always the recipient of the food basket at Thanksgiving) and the siblings struggle to grow up normally and stick together despite being severely mistreated by their mother Rosie. They each have a love/hate relationship with her - they're afraid of her and they want her to love them. The family drama is set against the larger town crisis of The Civil Rights movement.

Narrator Lizzie Cooper does an excellent job.

Parable of the Talents was a disappointment. I barely managed to finish. It was a miserable follow up to Parable of the Sower. It was clunky and slow and if I didn't have so much respect for the author already, I probably would not have finished it. :(

#111: I am adding The Darkest Child to the BlackHole. Thanks for the recommendation of that one, Sacil!

In House Justice by Mike Lawson a CIA agent is killed after a journalist leaks a story about an American defense contractor selling missile technology to Iran. What follows is a convoluted story with too many characters that I didn't care about...semi interesting for the moment, but forgettable overall.

I finally started The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime last night. It's a quick read and I like it! Mark Haddon really seems to get into the mind of an autistic child. Can't wait to find out if Christopher solves the crime.

#113: Skipping House Justice, thank you very much for taking one for the team.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, so I hope you do too!

You're welcome. How've you been?

I am doing OK. How are you, Sacil?

Doing well. Wishing I had more hours in a day. :) One of my 2 self portraits has been accepted to a local exhibit that goes up Sept. 1!

#117: One of my 2 self portraits has been accepted to a local exhibit that goes up Sept. 1!

Congratulations!

Thank you!

You should post pictures of them here so we can admire them!

*blush* maybe. I haven't updated my blog in months, so nobody's seen anything I've done lately.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon was excellent! I loved it! Poor Christopher was so literal. The funny thing is that many of the teens I work with are a little like that but they don't have a medical diagnosis! lol. I don't remember who recommended it, but thank you, whoever you are!

The Killing Hour by Lisa Gardner was good as well. She writes a good mystery. I like that she actually tells a story instead of repeating the same phrases over and over for 300 pages. :)

Listened to the first cd of They're Watching by Gregg Hurwitz and I'm intrigued.

I have not read one of Gardner's books in ages. I really need to re-visit hers. Thanks for the reminder.

I have The Darkest Child on my wishlist -- something to look forward to.

Congratulations on your self-portrait.

I read a wonderful biography on Zora Neale Hurston this past week Wrapped in Rainbows

In They're Watching Patrick Davis has been fired from the set of a movie based on the only screenplay he's ever sold (by the same title as the novel). He's also being sued by the lead actor for assault and by the movie studio. And his marriage is shaky. When he picks up the morning paper, a dvd falls out. On it is a short video of his downstairs bathroom - and Patrick walking in, using the toilet and leaving. After a few more dvds, the phone calls and emails start. Hurwitz does an awesome job of setting up the reader to expect one thing and then having something totally different happen.

I was ready to give They're Watching 4 stars, but then it started to lag near the end. This was my first Gregg Hurwitz novel, and I will definitely pick up another.

I listened to the audio version and Scott Brick was totally NOT the right narrator for the story. His style of reading is too laid back for the intense, edge-of-your-seat scenes.

goddesspt2, Wrapped in Rainbows sounds so good! It's on my wishlist. Thanx for the recommendation.

Finally got around to reading the classic Of Mice and Men. Why did I wait so long? The book is amazing! Having read nothing from Steinbeck before, I expected that all of his books were long and long-winded like a Dickens novel. Because I enjoyed this one, I may someday get around to reading The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden. There was so much packed into these 100 pages, and so much of it was under the surface. I loved that it was not all spelled out for the reader.

After discussing it with one of my teen volunteers, I see why so many people go back and reread it as an adult if they read it in high school. He missed so many points in the novel. But then again, he is an extremely literal person, so that may not have been an age thing, but his personality instead.

I started listening to Caught by Harlan Coben, and I have finished the first of 12 short stories in The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Loved, loved, loved the first story and I'm enjoying the second one already. Adjoa Andoh's narration is superb!

#126: I had not read Of Mice and Men until last year either, Sacil, so I know exactly what you mean!

I haven't been on LT, but I have been reading! Update:
The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - a collection of 12 short stories featuring Nigerian women in their home country or America dealing with different life situations. Loved it. However, couldn't read them all back-to-back because too many dealt with a similar theme of oppressive men holding down tough women.

Burning Wire by Jeffrey Deaver - Love the Lincoln Rhyme series. And the little twist at the end has me ready for the next installment! (You won't want to touch any doorknobs, metal or light switches after you read this.)

Caught by Harlan Coben - This is my first stand alone Coben novel. The others I've read have all been part of the Myron Bolitar series. Although this was a good book, it made me sad. Not going to say why because it would be a spoiler.

Deeper Than the Dead by Tami Hoag - OMG, this book was so on point! I whizzed through this book! It is much better than the first book I read by her, Alibi Man. There's a serial killer in the small town, and the visiting FBI profiler says it's a family man who is a pillar of the community. But will anyone admit that their husband has violent tendencies in order to save the life of a missing woman?

The Tempest Tales by Walter Mosley - a quick, fun read. Tempest refuses to accept Saint Peter's judgement that he go to hell and is sent back to Earth with an angel to get him to admit that he is a sinner to deserves to go to hell. Tempest gives the angel and the devil a run for their money.

Listened to most of Where the God of Love Hangs Out by Amy Bloom - I don't think I'm going to finish it. I don't care. :P

Picked up Secrets by Jude Deveraux without reading the back. OMG! It's a romance novel! Gag!! I tried to listen since it's outside what I usually read, but I couldn't get past disk 2 - no plot, women swooning, stupid CIA and FBI men doing stupid things but looking good doing it. I couldn't take it.

Looks like you've done some good reading lately!

Yes, :)
Forgot to add More Than You Know by Rosalyn Story - had a lot of potential but never made it. I got through most of it and then remembered...life is too short to read bad books! So I moved on.

Wow! Very productive reading going on here. I know I should be off LT a little bit more and get through more TBRs!

Congrats on some good recent reading, Sacil!

Yep Jude Deveraux is definitely romance w/ a capital 'R' - LOL. I plan on starting East of Eden this weekend.

goddesspt2, glad my recent posts are amusing to you. :)

Sorry to be so far behind on your thread. You are reading some great books!

Thank you, no problem. I was MIA for about 10 days myself. How are you?

Foreigners by Caryl Phillips is a collection of 3 long short stories which are fictionalized accounts of real people. All three deal with black men displaced in England. In the first story, the language is over-the-top stuffy, but even though it was almost ridiculous, it did work for the story. The second story couldn't end fast enough for me - boooring! But I loved the last one. David Oluwale, a 15-year-old Nigerian who stowed away on a ship to get to England for a better education, is mistreated by the police his whole life. He turns up drowned sometime in his mid-30s (I think). The story is told in pieces by various people who knew him, however slightly. Very sad.

Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell is laugh-out-loud funny! Peter Brown is an intern at a horrible Manhattan hospital and a former mafia hit man now in the Witness Protection Program. This short book of dark humor moves quickly and although the action is sometimes outrageous, the main character's go-with-the-flow attitude helps you believe it. I'll probably listen to this one again. Robert Petkoff is the perfect narrator.

#138: I have stayed away from Beat the Reaper because I heard it has a high gore factor. I think I will continue to stay away - I cannot handle gore :)

#139 One part at the end was pretty gory. I squealed and gagged and I have a high gore tolerance! However, the book was so good, I might listen again. lol.

#140: You must have really enjoyed it, Sacil, if you are contemplating listening to it again already!

Foreigners was definitely a somber read, although I found his novel Dancing in the Dark, a fictionalized account of the life of the black minstrel artist Bert Williams, to be more depressing (although it was a very good book).

#142 I would think Bert Williams' real life biography would be sad as well. Trailblazers often lead lonely or tragic lives. I can imagine what Phillips would do with a fictionalized account. I'll wait a while for that one.

Huge by James Fuerst is the cutest coming-of-age story about a 12-year-old boy named Eugene "Genie" "Huge" Smalls with very few social skills, who nowadays would probably be diagnosed with ADHD.

It's summertime in the early 80's in New Jersey. Huge doesn't have any friends, except his stuffed frog named Thrash that his counselor gave him. His dad has left so his family is down to him, his mom, his older sister Eunice who goes by Niecey (I don't know how to spell it) and his grandma. His grandma is sick and stays in a nursing home now.

In the opening scenes, he's visiting his grandma and sees that somebody has vandalized the nursing home sign, changing "Retirement Home" to "Retartett Home." Huge thinks about the detective novels his grandma gave him before she was senile and takes on this case of vandalism to stand up for the old people.

Huge misreads all the clues and when the truth comes out, it is laugh-out-loud funny. Huge questions a teenager he suspects of the vandalism, and the older boy advises him to get rid of his "ninja turtle" (Thrash) before starting junior high or everyone will call him a fag. Huge gets mad and thinks: "I'd learned all about prejudice in social studies. It was all the same, and I wasn't going to take it. First they called you names. Then they made you use separate bathrooms. And then they crammed you into the bottom of a slave ship headed for the concentration camp. I'd be damned if that happened on my watch."

The only drawback to the book is all the cursing in the beginning. It seems a little overdone. Once you get past that, the rest is great.

Jeff Woodman does an excellent job with the surfer dude accents and attitudes of the various characters.

#143: I will have to give Huge a try. Thanks for the recommendation, Sacil.

The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury is a collection of short stories written in the 50s which was released as an audio collection last year. Paul Michael Garcia is a superb narrator. Most of the stories are centered around a space/futuristic theme and many involve the planet Mars. The Mars theme gets a little old after the third or fourth tale. However, they are all worth reading.

Bradbury explores man's relationship with technology and the way we treat others in unique fashion. Although the endings are predictable, the stories are interesting and well-told.

#145: I already have that one in the BlackHole, I know. I will have to bump it up some!

John Lee's performance of White Tiger by Aravind Adiga is quite good. Balram Halwai is born and raised in a small, poor village in India. As a successful business man, he writes a series of letters to a visiting Chinese official describing his childhood and his rags to riches story.

The story was interesting, especially since I know next to nothing about Indian culture. Adiga describes the caste system, the poverty and corruption, the brainwashing required to make one segment of society feel inferior and undeserving of anything better, as well as the anger that lies just beneath the surface. In addition, Adiga touches lightly on how the "upper" caste is trapped by expectations and beliefs as well.

My only criticism is that most of the characters, besides the main character, are pretty flat. That may be on purpose as Balram has only minimal interaction with the other people in the book. However, I think the novel would have been more powerful if the reader had been given a chance to see another point of view or the other characters like the 'landlords' had been fleshed out in some other way.

#147: Another one already in the BlackHole that I need to bump up. *sigh* Can I be triplets now?

I can see why teens would love Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. Clay Asher receives a box in the mail with no return address. Inside are cassette tapes from Hannah Baker, his crush, who just committed suicide. On the tapes she explains the 13 reasons why she did it. Each reason is connected to a person. Each person is supposed to listen to the tapes and then pass them on to the next person on the list. If they don't, a second set of all the tapes will be released publicly. Clay spends on night listening to the descriptions of the incidents on the tapes and following the map that Hannah gave him anonymously before she died.

I liked Clay's part; it was a little redundant, but it seemed real. Hannah's tapes didn't quite ring true. They sounded more like narration to a novel than the way a teen would talk, especially a depressed teen considering suicide. However, when I could set that aside, the novel worked overall. Hannah was self-centered (which was understandable) and blamed everyone else. I always thought suicidal people blamed themselves.

This should be required reading for teens so they can see how seemingly little slights and insults can snowball and lead to actions that you can't take back.

#149: Linda sent that one to me and (guilty look), I have not read it yet. I really need to though!

It is ok Stasia! You sent many books to me that I haven't read!

Thirteen Reasons Why is a powerful book.

In Horns by Joe Hill Ignatius Perrish wakes up from a night of drunkenness with a pair of horns growing from his head. People start telling him their darkest and meanest desires and asking him for permission to do them. Even the doctor he visits for assistance only wants permission to snort Oxycontin during his work day.

One year before, the love of his life Merrin Williams was raped and murdered on the same night that Ig was leaving the country for a 6-month job. Ig is the only suspect, but he is never charged or tried for the crime due to lack of evidence, but everyone in town, including his own family, believes he is guilty.

This is a great book and an easy read. You can hear some of Hill's father's (Stephen King) influence in his writing, but he definitely has his own style. He's got his own quirkiness.

I think this is book number 74 for me, almost to the finish line!

1. Left Behind by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
2. Eclipse by Richard North Patterson
3. Conviction Richard North Patterson
4. Tribulation Force by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
5. The Second Horseman by Kyle Mills
6. Darkness Falls by Kyle Mills
7. Nicolae by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
8. The Disciple by Stephen Coonts
9. Still Life with Crows by Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston
10. The Safety of Deeper Water by Tim Poland
11. Soul Harvest by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
12. Apollyon by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
13. Assassins by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
14. The Indwelling by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
15. 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill
16. The Mark by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
17. Desecration by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
19. The Humbling by Philip Roth
20. The Remnant by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
21. Protect and Defend by Richard North Patterson
22. Armageddon by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
23. That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo
24. Echo Park by Michael Connelly
25. Fugitive by Philip Margolin
26. The Neighbor by Lisa Gardner
27. The Taking by Dean Koontz
28. I am Not Sidney Poitier by Percival Everett
29. FaeFever by Karen Marie Morning
30. 9 Dragons by Michael Connelly
31. Lost Light by Michael Connelly
32. Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving
33. Glorious Appearing by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
34. Road Dogs by Elmore Leonard
35. Mother Eternal Ann Everlastin's Dead by Pat G'orge-Walker
36. The Ghost in Love by Jonathan Carroll
37. Animal Farm by George Orwell
38. The Motive by John Lescroart
39. Hollywood Station by Joseph Wambaugh
40. Under the Dome by Stephen King
41. The Girls by Lori Lansens
42. Blood Colony by Tananarive Due
43. City of Bones by Michael Connelly
44. Vanished by Joseph Finder
45. The Bodies Left Behind by Jeffrey Deaver
46. Gone by Jonathan Kellerman
47. Zenzele by J. Nozipo Maraire
48. 61 Hours by Lee Child
49. Innocent by Scott Turow
50. Killing Floor by Lee Child
51. Fever Dream by Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston
52. Wait for Me by An Na
53. Ordinary Heroes by Scott Turow
54. The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan
55. The Abortionist's Daughter by Elisabeth Hyde
56. The Darkest Child by Delores Phillips
57. Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler
58. House Justice by Mike Lawson
59. The Killing Hour by Lisa Gardner
60. They're Watching by Gregg Hurwitz
61. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
62. The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
63. The Burning Wire by Jeffrey Deaver
64. Caught by Harlan Coben
65. Deeper Than the Dead by Tami Hoag
66. The Tempest Tales by Walter Mosley
67. Foreigners by Caryl Phillips
68. Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell
69. Huge by James Fuerst
70. The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
71. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
72. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
73. Horns by Joe Hill

Okay, so it was 73...still, I'm almost to the finish line. :)

74. The Pleasure of My Company by Steve Martin
75. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Woo hoo!!

Almost to the finish line is still good, Sacil!

Thank you. :) The Pleasure of My Company by Steve Martin is a cute novella. I didn't think I was going to like it, but I did. It was worth the read.

The Hunger Games was awesome!! I wasn't looking for it, but recognized the title on the library's Playaway shelf and picked it up. I'm sooo glad I did! Ending my 75 on a high note.

My friend just pointed out that if I keep reading at the same rate, I could finish 100 by the end of the year...maybe. Working on submissions for another art show. The theme this time is miniatures.

I really enjoyed the Hunger Games. I'm currently half way through the 2nd in the series, Catching Fire.

I was going to send you a message about it because Katniss is such a strong female lead! Glad to see you already read it. I just put a hold on Catching Fire on the library website.

Good luck with the art show, Sacil!

I am so glad you enjoyed The Hunger Games. I loved it so much I bought a copy for myself and my daughter Beth.

Thanx, Stasia! I plan to post some pics of my mini flowers on my blog as I work. I'll post a link when they're up.

I still have almost two weeks before The Hunger Games is due, so I'm passing it to my mom. I'm trying to decide if my goddaughter is mature enough to read it. I'm not sure how she'll handle the death scenes. She's a tomboy and toughgirl about most things, but she gets nervous when she thinks someone is going to die in a story. I may wait till the next time she's with me for a week so that we can talk about it as she reads.

I look forward to seeing the pictures!

The plan to wait until your goddaughter is there with you for a week sounds like a good one. The Hunger Games could be a very intense read for her.

alcottacre, thanx...for both comments.


In Buddha Boy by Kathe Koja, Jinsen is the new kid at school, and he's strange. He wears huge t-shirts, shaves his head, and doesn't fight back when he's bullied. Not only that, he doesn't cry or run, either. He smiles to himself and continues with his day.

Justin is curious, but likes his high school social status of being in the middle and doesn't want to risk being the target of the bullies or shunned by his current friends in order to reach out to Jinsen. However, when he is paired with Jinsen for a school project, he doesn't have a choice other than to spend some time with the new kid. They develop a friendship, which Justin tries to hide from his peers at first.

This is a very short book, only 4 hours on a playaway, so it doesn't delve too deeply into the issue of bullying. But it does give a different perspective because the "victim" refuses to be a victim, but is also not an activist. He accepts the behaviors of others towards him without taking it on as his own identity. It's pretty unbelievable that a teenage boy with a violent history would begin to live a Buddhist life immediately after the death of his parents and moving to a new place to live with an elderly aunt. However, the story works. If it had gone on longer, it probably would not have.

Woo hoo! Look at the picture of the playaway! Yay me! Thank you very much to JPB's thread "How to do fancy things to your posts," I feel like a grown up member of LT! :)

Lost Souls by Dean Koontz was not the utter disappointment that I was dreading after the total and absolute let down of Dead and Alive. But it was not the engrossing, can't-put-it-down, what's-going-to-happen-next success of Prodigal Son and City of Night, either. When Koontz decided not to collaborate, the series lost something essential for me. I did a lot of fast forwarding on the Playaway. Some of the humor was just dumb. I wish he'd get a partner again and go back to the style of the first two novels. :(

Congratulations on reaching your 75 Book Goal, Sacil. Plenty of year left to do lots more good reading, too.

My daughter-in-law read and loved The Hunger Games. I may borrow her copy to see if I want to go further in the trilogy.

#163: Congratulations on learning how to post pictures, Sacil. One of these days I will learn how to do it and be a grown up member of LT, too :)

Thanx, Donna & Stasia!

Stasia, you are a grown up LT member. You're like a founding member or something. lol!

I only wish I were one of the founding members!

Many thanx to kippras, whose review states more clearly than I can just what I was feeling when I finished this novel. I don't get what all the hype is about.

The first part of the novel is riveting. I want to know what's going to happen. I understand why there's chaos in the mental asylum where the blind are quarantined. However, once the group of "friends" escapes the asylum, I was bored almost to tears. I was so disappointed with the ending.

I also don't understand why Saramago believes that mass blindness would remove the need for people having names. People would still want to identify themselves and those they were associated with. I would want to know my friends and foes. If you're calling to each other, a description isn't convenient. "hey, girl with the dark glasses (dark glasses I never saw and can't see now because we met after I went blind, so I don't even know you wear them) follow my voice so we can find each other and move to another place to find food." I would want to call her by a name and would want to be called by my name. I think most people would.

And if people are staying together in groups, wouldn't most of them try to have some kind of order instead of defecating any and everywhere? Animals keep their toilet and food separate. Why would we be different even if we went blind. Otherwise all kinds of illness would be rampant. Welcome e coli! Hasten us to our deaths to relieve us of our blindness!

Anyway, I have more faith in humanity, I guess. I don't understand why the previously blind, meaning before the white blindness, don't rise to power and start teaching or leading others in their community in how to maneuver through the city, to read, etc. There are many independent blind people on Earth already. Do the "regular" blind people keep their names? Or do they find them unnecessary because everyone is blind?

Enough with the criticism. I'm glad others found some existential meaning in the book. The first part was very interesting. I found the latter half too unbelievable to enjoy.

Nineteen Minutes is predictable. Not Jodi Picoult's best. It's a "ripped from the headlines" story about a high school shooting, which I didn't know when I checked it out. That's what I get for picking up books based on the title and nothing else.

#170: OK, skipping that one.

I hope you enjoy your next read more, Sacil!

Thanx Stasia! Yeah, I would skip it. Do you read Tess Gerritsen? She's one of my favs, but Ice Cold is not one of her best



Ice Cold is the latest Tess Gerritsen novel in the Rizzoli/Isles series. Maura Isles leaves for a medical conference feeling angry and dissatisfied with her hidden relationship with Daniel. She runs into an old friend and breaks character, going off on a spur-of-the-moment trip with him, his daughter and a few friends. They get into a car accident in the middle of nowhere during a blizzard and have to find a way to survive until they can get help. They end up finding a deserted village, previously occupied by a cult.

This is not the strongest Rizzoli/Isles novel in the series. It was still good, but Rizzoli played a very minor role this go round and Maura was not her usual self.

#172: I received that one as an ER book and did not care for it overmuch. I have not read any of the others in the series, so that may have been part of my problem as to the lack of enjoyment of the book.

Stasia, you should definitely try one of the earlier ones. Tess was off her game with this one. Rizzoli is a strong character and I really like her. I was highly disappointed at how she was pushed aside in this book.

Recently completed books:

Brainwashed by Tom Burrell. 5 Stars! Review here

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins is the second in the Hunger Games series. 5 stars! Love it! Woop woop!

Deception by Jonathan Kellerman, another in the Alex Delaware/Milo Sturgis series. Milo is one funny detective. Delaware is more narrator than actual character.

*fancy posing* Do you see the link to my review of Brainwashed? Oh yes, I did it myself. lol.

#176: Wow! You are just learning all kinds of tricks here lately, aren't you? Covers and now links! Good for you.

ETA: Nice review of Brainwashed. Thumbs up from me!

Great review of Brainwashed; I'll add that to my wish list.

#177 & 178 Thanx guys!

Hi everyone. I need your help, please. My nonprofit is trying to win a grant from Pepsi. Please go to refresheverything.com/newportnewsweedandseedproject and vote for our project. Please click every day this month. The top 10 vote getters in our category win their grant. Thanx in advance for your help.

#180: Sacil, I posted both on my thread and to the Kitchen. I hope it helps! Good luck.

#181 Thank you so much! I was just on tv for something else and managed to get it in as well. I hope we win. This would be a really good program for us.

Boom! I voted for your group. Good luck.

Thank you!

Gingerbread Girl by Stephen King is a short story about a woman who runs as a way of coping with the death of her infant daughter. After an argument with her husband, she literally runs away and stays at her father's beach house on an island in the off season and runs some more. She peeks in on a neighbor who just arrived and he tries to kill her. And she fights and runs some more. :) I'm joking about it, but for 2 disks, it really was pretty good.

The Murder Book by Jonathan Kellerman is the 13th in the Alex Delaware/Milo Sturgis series, but I'm not reading them in order. Some are really good and others are forgettable. This one was pretty boring. However, I loved getting the history on Milo's career and his struggle with his sexual identity. The rest was convoluted and uninteresting. Too much Alex Delaware. I like it better when Alex is narrator and Milo handles most of the action and dialogue.

#185: I have book 2 in the series home from the library now. I am reading them in order, just because I am that kind of gal :) You can see that I am not very far along though.

Mockingjay, the final book in The Hunger Games trilogy was excellent. I am so glad that Collins made this a trilogy instead of dragging the story on and on for money. :)

Katniss and Peeta are used by both sides of the war, the Capitol and the president of District 13. I was ready to cry at the way Peeta was tortured and brainwashed. Despite being placed in impossible situations, the Victors and their friends still manage to make some of their own decisions and change events for the good of the community. At the climax of the book, Katniss demonstrates incredible maturity with her decision even though she disappointed me with some other choices along the way. Gale's character was pretty flat this go round and Katniss seemed to waver on whether she trusted him.

The ending was a little sweet for my taste.

UR by Stephen King is a short story about a college English professor who orders a Kindle to spite his ex-girlfriend and gets more than he expected. The story started a little slow. I get it; he bought a Kindle. Then it picked up and just ended abruptly. Right when it got scary and seemed like it was going to turn into a regular Stephen King horror-fest, it was over! Aaaah! And what was with the syrupy conclusion?

186 Hi Stasia! When I read a book and find out it's part of a series that's already into double digits, I don't worry about going in order. I just get what's available at the library. Except with Karin Slaughter. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE her series and once I read the first one, I went to the beginning.

Milo and Alex are a funny pair, but Milo definitely carries the stories. Alex is more the straight man and narrator. He's pretty boring, to me, when he's the focus of the stories. Too much internet surfing and hypothesizing. Gimme some action or at least some flair. Plus, I had read most of Stephen White's series with psychologist Dr. Alan Gregory, his wife DA Lauren Crowder and his best friend Detective Sam Purdy before I read my first Sturgis/Delaware novel. So I may be jaded on reading another series with a psychologist/detective best friend pair.

I hope you enjoy them!

#188: I have only read one book in the Stephen White series. One of these days, I need to get back to that one. For now, I am sticking with the Kellerman series. Thanks for the reminder though.

As far as Karin Slaughter goes, I love her books too!

Fragile by Lisa Unger - just so-so, review here.

#190: I think I will give that one a pass. Nice review though, Sacil.

Dexter is Delicious by Jeff Lindsay is my first Dexter novel. I think I might like the previous books better based on some of the comments by other readers.

I usually don't like it when authors read their own work, but Lindsay did a good job.

#192: I like the books earlier in the Dexter series than I have the last two, Gail.

#192 Gail?

#194: Too much posting in the wee hours! Sorry about that, Sacil!

#195 Ha ha!

My review for Die for You is here. Not really my kind of book. But I did say I would give Lisa Unger another try.

Sounds like Unger is just not an author for you. I hope your next read is more to your taste!

The Reversal by Michael Connelly is a Mickey Hallery novel, with Harry Bosche as a side character. It was pretty good.

House Rules by Jodi Picoult hits you over the head with the symptoms of Asperger's Syndrome. Review here.

#199: I have never warmed to Mickey as a character, although I love Connelly's Harry Bosche series. I guess I will try his Mickey Haller books again.

#200 I totally agree that Harry Bosche is the more likable character. Mickey is not as personable. The whole working with two ex-wives thing is pretty weird.

NNNNN is B-B-B-B-Boooriiiing!

That bad? ugh!

Oh yes, that bad. Not even worth reviewing.

I'm almost finished Rain Gods by James Lee Burke. It's outside my usual reading fare, but I'm really enjoying it. Will Patton does and amazing job with the narration! I can picture the little desert town, all dry and dusty, and just feel how tired and worn out the Sheriff is. His young female deputy is so persistent with showing her attraction to him. And the bad guys are pretty intimidating...until somebody calls their bluff.

#204: Well, I am glad your reading improved from NNNNN, Sacil!

Thank you, Stasia!

Rain Gods is awesome! I LOVED it! I will definitely be reading more of James Lee Burke. As usual, I just grabbed an audio book because I liked the title, not knowing what it was about. I don't usually do westerns, but this is a modern-day western/detective novel. Burke is extremely descriptive without being all about the details. I love the fact that the one sex scene is implied. I think it happened. (Burke never says it outright).

I had to go back and listen to some of the funny scenes again before passing the book on to my brother. 5 stars! :)

#206: I want to start on the first book in the series before I get to Rain Gods, but it is definitely in the BlackHole. I am glad you got so much enjoyment out of it! What a serendipitous find for you!

My review of Uglies: here

#208: Since you did not care for the first one, I would not bother with the others, which I did not like as much as the first.

#209 Thanx, I returned Pretties to the library.

Worst Case by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge is a fun, easy read. It's the third installment of the detective Michael Bennett series. Det. Bennett is the widowed father of 10 adopted children of all races and ages. Luckily his priest father-in-law and nanny are unnaturally nice and patient so he can keep his crazy hours and save the city time and time again.

Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult review here.

Happy Christmas, Sacil!

Merry Christmas, Sacil!

Thank you guys! I hope everyone had a merry Christmas and Happy New Year as well!