Measuring Up!

This is a thinly disguise brag post.

OK, it's not actually disguised.

Earlier this year, I saw a link to "The 27 Greatest Romance Novels to Read in Your Lifetime". OMG that's a hilarious title. The hubris! And yet, it was irresistible. I popped it into my "saved" articles on Facebook and just got around to reading it. Honestly, it's a great list! Here's the article, and here's my editorializing:

1. Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen.  OK, it's like a law that you have to include this one in any romance list that claims to be canonical. I have tried more than once to get through this book and I just can. not. even. Basically I can only relate to the buffoonish father who wants nothing to do with society stuff and then I fall asleep. It's a no for me.

2. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I saw a snip of a PBS production when I was in middle school and fascinated by all things miserable, so I did manage to read this one. But I was like 11 and I didn't really get it. Nor was I ever tempted to read it again. So yes, but also no.

3. Shanna by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss. YAAAAAAASSSS. I actually re-read this somewhat recently and could have sworn that I reviewed it here. Ah, good intentions.  This was literally the first romance I read that wasn't a category. Be still my heart. Yes, yes, and again yes.

4. Morning Glory by LaVyrle Spencer. Oh yes. I went through a BIG LaVyrle Spencer phase, in real time when she was publishing. I agree this is the best of a really wonderful oevre. YES she deserves a pretentious French word.

5. Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase. Yes yes. So many good titles, but hard to go wrong with one that includes the heroine shooting the hero right in the first few chapters. 

6. Indigo, by Beverly Jenkins. Not yet. I have a couple of Jenkins titles on my TBR and this is definitely high up there.

7. The Viscount Who Loved Me, by Julia Quinn. Yep, Uh huh. Early readers of Alpha Heroes may recall several discussions of the whole Bridgerton series (here's the best overview), BEFORE Netflix and Shonda Rhimes got on board. (I mean, Netflix was mailing DVDs out at the time, remember that?)

8. Delaney's Desert Sheikh, by Brenda Jackson. I have not read this one. A 30 book series you say? Hmmmmmm. Dare I? Certainly worth considering.

9. Dark Lover, by JR Ward. Oh hell yes. There are no less than 35 articles on this blog tagged with JR Ward, so uh, yeah. Yeah.

10. Bet Me, by Jennifer Crusie. Yep. Another favorite here at Alpha Heroes, and this title is often considered her best.

11. A Hunger Like No Other by Kresley Cole. This is the second book in the IAD series, but the first full-length one. I do like this series though I will admit that I am not 100% caught up. Hot sex, lots of mythology-based worldbuilding, and laugh-out-loud humor, this series is a yes from me.

12. Slave to Sensation, by Nalini Singh. At this point, I'm thinking I need to call up the author of the article because we should be best friends. I love this series so hard and I'm still loving it. Fun fact, Hostage to Pleasure, the 5th book in this series, was the first ARC I ever got, reviewed here on the blog. 

13. Devil In Winter, by Lisa Kleypas. OK yes, but with caveats - I know I've read this one but I don't really remember it. This doesn't mean a lot because there are hundreds of romances that I've read over the years and don't much remember. This is definitely a reader favorite but it didn't stand out that much to me personally. Maybe I should try a re-read.

14. Vision in White, by Nora Roberts. Yes, I'm a Nora Roberts junkie. This is a lovely, super-duper extra romantic quartet. So, yes.

15. Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake, by Sarah Maclean. I'm a little on the fence for this one. I really admire Sarah Maclean's voice of advocacy for the genre, but I've tried a few of her books, including this one, and they just didn't grab me that hard. Maybe? I feel like I could give this author another shot, idk.

16. The Duchess War, by Courtney Milan. Oh hell yes. I even forced my slightly-snooty litfic-leaning bookclub to read this one. Chess champion heroine and reformist duke hero? I repeat, oh hell yes.

17. The Magpie Lord by KJ Charles. In general, I am a little meh on m/m romance. I picked up a different title by the same author and remain a little meh. This author is much beloved, so I can't argue with the rec, but it's not for me.

18. Tangled by Emma Chase. No idea! maybe I should try. It's a contemporary billionaire trope which I'm so/so on, but I won't rule it out.

19. Glitterland, by Alexis Hall. Yes! This is a tear-you-up, rip-your-heart-out romance. A big part of my "meh" for m/m romance sub-genre stems from the fact that a lot of its early start was erotic m/m written by women, and seemingly for women. Much of it lacked authenticity and like a wallpaper historical, felt like a hetero romance with an extra penis and coming-out-of-the-closet angst for conflict (not to minimize those emotions- in this context I'm saying it felt rote). Not so with this book. Authentic and emotionally devastating. Big big yes from me.

20. Ante Up by Christina C. Jones. Not so far. Based on the track record of this list though, I might have to check it out.

21. An Extraordinary Union, by Alyssa Cole. Very much yes. Not going to lie, this is a tough read. Back in the 80s when I was really diving into romance, the (American) Civil War setting were really appealing to me. Mostly Gone With the Wind inspired, they were all about genteel white southern women surviving the war. This one is... definitely not that. It pulls no punches about what slavery was like. An engrossing, important read that is also an amazing romance with an unforgettable heroine. Definitely yes.

22. Acting on Impulse, by Mia Sosa. I haven't read this one. I did read "The Worst Best Man," which got rave reviews, but I thought it was just OK. I couldn't put my finger on what didn't work for me though. I guess I'll say I'm on the fence for this title, but it's not high on my list.

23. Hate to Want You by Alisha Rai. Yes yes! The article incorrectly refers to this book as Rai's debut, which it is not. Rai has a number of erotic titles that precede this trilogy.  The Hate To books are Rai's debut with Avon though, and they are STEAMY. Come for the diversity and that GORGEOUS cover, but stay for the off-the-charts chemistry. Oh yeah.

24. Long Shot by Kennedy Ryan. Meh. I'm not big on New Adult or sports romance, so I'm not feeling super inspired by this one. Call it a "probably not."

25. The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang. Definitely yes! often called the "reverse Pretty Woman" story, with a hired-escort hero and a wealthy, non-neurotypical heroine. A truly lovely and tender romance. (I reviewed this for RT in 2018 and rated it a Top Pick). Yes from me!

26. Red, White & Royal Blue, by Casey McQuiston. Surprise, yes! despite my usual meh on m/m, this was a delightful fantasy about two princes - one literal, one American - navigating an enemies-to-lovers relationship in the public spotlight. Imagined in a near-future where gay relationships are a little more common but still politically delicate, the characters make this one sing.  So -- yes.

27. A Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics, by Olivia Waite. Uh. I read this for a bookclub but I honestly don't remember a thing about it. I didn't hate it. Most of the bookclub enjoyed it. I hate to end the list on a whimper but here we are.

So if you're following along, that's 19 read, 3 probably not, 4 maybes, and 1 definite need to read.

What do you think of this list?

 

Thursday Thirteen - 2020 style!

I am happy to report that the Thursday Thirteen Linkup is still alive and kicking! Let me start 2020 out on a roll with two posts in less than a week! Woo hoo!

January is all about lists.  Last weekend, I gave you my list of the best of 2019.  Here is a Thursday 13 rundown of other 2019 retrospectives in the #RomBkBlog world:

1. Under The Covers
2. Miss Bates Reads Romance
3. Kini's list at Smexy Books
4. Angela's list at Smexy Books
5. Lots of SFF in the mix at Reading Reality
6. Wendy The Super Librarian
7. Ellie Reads Fiction
8. Shallow Reader (don't believe the blog name!)
9. Book Binge
10. Ana's list at Love In Panels
11. I Heart Romance
12. Kaetrin's list at Dear Author
13. And just to round things out, here is the GoodReads list for Romance.

I'm definitely seeing a few titles on repeat throughout these lists that I'll need to check out.  Also, how could I have missed Sapphire Flames on my own list?  Jeeze.

I hope you enjoyed this list! I recommend you head on over to this week's Thursday Thirteen linkup and check out a few participants.  This is not a book-focused meme (except here at Alpha Heroes!) so who knows what tidbits you'll pick up to brighten your week!

2019 Look Back, 2020 Look Ahead

Ever since I started this blog, I have almost always managed an end of year post.  Despite the long silence this year, January always brings some optimism about re-invigorating the blog and this year is no different!

By The Numbers
I did a better job of tracking my reading this year, so I think the numbers are pretty accurate.

• Total: 126 titles
• Nonfiction, mostly audio: 11, with two DNFs
• Bookclub books: 13, one DNF.  Considering I participate in 3 monthly bookclubs, this is kind of terrible, lol.  But two of the three did not manage to select 12 books for the year; and there were a handful that I chose not to even start on the basis of having zero (possibly negative) interest in.
• Podcast reads: 13
• Rereads: 12 (many for the podcast)
• Novellas: 7
• Diversity: 14, mostly authors of color, and two LGBTQ titles. I would like to do better in 2020.
• Reedsy Reviews: 5
• Total DNF: 6.  I do have 3 or 4 titles in progress that I haven't officially given up on.  They'll go toward my 2020 numbers.

Highlights:

• Favorite new (to me) author: Sierra Simone! I had read the first American Camelot book previously and didn't like the cliffhanger ending, but A Lesson In Thorns blew me away.  Rereading the American Camelot series, I appreciated the Arthurian bits more.  I think Thorns is probably my favorite book of 2019. I also loved Tasha Suri's Empire of Sand.
• Best non-fiction was definitely Born A Crime, by Trevor Noah.  I had been meaning to get to this one for a long time and I'm sorry I waited. Humorous, thought-provoking, and horizon-expanding for this mid-west US white girl.
• Non-fiction runner-up: Educated, by Tara Westover.  I have read very few memoirs, but this was wonderful.  Engaging, even horrifying at times, with novel-like storytelling.
• Some great new series:  Jennifer Estep's fantasy Crown of Shards series is amazing; third book due out in March (I haven't read her previous series, apparently I need to), and Jessie Mihalik's Consortium Rebellion series top the list.  In the mood for more romantic space opera, I gave Susan' Grant's Star series a go and it's awesome! Also, G.A. Aiken's title, Blacksmith Queen, is the first of a new series and I liked it very much. Oh, and unsurprisingly, Jeffe Kennedy's Orchid Throne, first in a new romantic fantasy series.
• Binge: I've been catching up on the neglected Immortals After Dark series by Kresley Cole, which is just as good as I remembered. I've really been enjoying Cynthia Eden's Bad Things series -- I had read one of hers before and was turned off by the "medical experimentation" centered plot, which is just a personal squick, so I'm glad I gave her another shot.
• Favorite titles: (in non-exact order)
• A Lesson in Thorns, by Sierra Simone
• Circe, by Madeline Miller
• The Overdue Life of Amy Byler, by Kelly Harms
• Lady Derring Takes a Lover, by Julie Anne Long
• Kill the Queen, by Jennifer Estep
• Polaris Rising, by Jessie Mihalik
• Podcasts and TV: 2019 was the year I started watching TV again, and also found some podcasts I like.  I'm mostly watching Netflix, and my faves were Lucifer (OMG, he's pretty), the Cumberbatch/Freeman Sherlock Holmes, Lost Girl, and (surprisingly) iZombie.  Podcasts, besides ShelfAddiction where I guest host, I've been enjoying Craft A Life You Love, and The Good Life Project.
• 3Bloggers1Series Weekend!  Since I wasn't able to go to any conferences this year, my awesome podcast partners came to Seattle over Labor Day weekend and we had an AMAZING time. Wine tasting, cheese eating, book shopping, Facebook Live-ing, and some great sightseeing. A big highlight for me!

Lowlights:

• Well, blogging took more of a backseat than ever in 2019.  I returned to work at the beginning of March after five months of chemotherapy, and just didn't have the brain capacity to do much more than that.  I am expecting 2020 to be a better year health-wise, but I also have some ground to make up career-wise, so it's hard to say how the blog will fare.  
• Speaking of cancer, one of my bookclubs chose a book that I absolutely hated while I was in the midst of treatment.  Every review called it funny/humorous; for example, "wildly funny;" "arch, achingly funny, and surprisingly heartfelt;"  "expansive, great-hearted and acidly funny;" It's a litfic story written in a weird POV (first-person plural) about the people who work for an ad agency.  The owner of the company gets a breast cancer diagnosis about 25% through the book, and has something of a breakdown over it.  Meanwhile, here's an example of how SUPER funny it was (and incidently, the place I called the DNF):

What's Next?
I think I am not going to tempt fate by making any promises about blogging more -- although I always hope to.  For reading goals, I have three ideas in mind:

1. Julia Quinn Bridgerton Re-read, in preparation for the Netflix production.  Unfortunately, I seem to have offloaded my paperbacks after reading them back in 2008? or so? so I will have to re-acquire them.  I'm undecided about whether I want to binge the series or just read the first book shortly before the first series debuts.

2. This shelf:

I want to put (gasp!) something other than books on it.  There are ~40 books on that shelf-- it's (part of) my Paranormal TBR.  Wish me luck!

3. Sherlock: As mentioned above, I really adored the Benedict Cumberbatch/Martin Freeman Sherlock Holmes series.  I read all of the original SH stories back in middle school, and I have a notion to re-read the ones that have corresponding episodes and noodle about them here on the blog.

Conferences in 2020:  I'm signed up for ApollyCon in Washington DC, March 26-29, and Avon's KissCon in Chicago, April 17-20.  If you're headed for either one, do hit me up and let's connect!

Link Up:
Do you have a 2019 roundup or 2020 lookahead to share? Post in comments and I'll edit it in!

Finally, I hope you all have a happy, healthy, prosperous new year, filled with awesome books!

2018: Numbers and Highlights

I'm always a little bit slow with these round-up posts, but for those of you who are interested, here is a 2018 lookback.  In total, I read (or attempted) 108 titles in 2018, although I'm not the best record-keeper so there may be a few physical books in there that didn't get counted.

The Breakdown: 

• Novellas: 4
• DNF: 11
• Total bookclub reads: 14 (3 DNF)
• Podcast reads: 11 
• Reads for RT reviews (RIP, RT Book Reviews ): 7
• Books by authors of color: 17
• Nonfiction on audio: 3
• Nonfiction ebooks: 2

Some highlights:

• I discovered Elizabeth Vaughan's Warlands series and it was amazing. Definitely my favorite binge of the year. 
• Lexi C. Foss's Immortal Curse series.  Complex world building, cool magical powers, old enemies and shifting alliances -- you never know who to trust in this series and the plot twists are Machiavellian. 
• Jeffe Kennedy makes regular appearances in my reading. 2018 was a particularly prolific year for her and features some really lovely additions to her portfolio. 
• A nonfiction title blew me away this year!  Please immediately acquire The Order Of Time by Carlos Rovelli, specifically the audio version, narrated by none other than Benedict Cumberbatch. I promise you it is a mind-bending experience.
• Tiffany Reisz' The Red. Beautiful, haunting, erotic, and a little disturbing. This is her best work yet, IMO.
• I'm pleased with the percentage of authors of color that made it into my reading this year. I've said a number of times over the life of this blog that I miss the "globe trotting" historical romances of old-skool days, though often part and parcel with a lot of problematic content.  It turns out that getting some fresh perspectives and new settings is as easy as seeking out more diversity in the authors I'm reading. Worth the effort.

Lowlights:

• Anne Bishop's Others series -- quite the disappointment, although it started out strong. Have a listen to our podcast series for more details (while the books disappointed, the podcast will not!) (Written in Red, Murder of Crows, Vision in Silver, Marked in Flesh, Etched in Bone)
• Several of my bookclub reads were DNFs. This isn't really surprising. The bookclub I belong to through work rotates through all different genres and it turns out that I know my preferences pretty well -- there's a reason I don't read much lit-fic.  I'm giving them a good try, because 1) I enjoy the conversation; 2) it's a good brain-stretch exercise; and 3) every now and then I find a really awesome one that I would otherwise not have tried. So I'm pretty happy with finishing 10 out of 12 titles.  The third DNF was from my romance bookclub and was mainly due to health issues. Although it is true that the book wasn't exactly my cup of tea, I probably would've finished it if it hadn't landed in the midst of a flurry of doctor visits.
• I was sad to see the end of RT Book Reviews. I had been reviewing for them for about three years, and very much enjoyed the conferences in the years I was able to go. I won't be able to try out the BookLoversCon this year, but if the feedback is good, maybe next year.

Looking forward:  

• On the Blog: I have a few modest blog goals this year. I'd like to post a minimum of two reviews a month, and get back in the habit of a weekly reading roundup.  I'm making an effort to read the physical books that are on my shelves. 
• If you enjoy Twitter, please keep an eye out for my live-tweets, usually tagged with #amreading. I try to remember the #bkbrk (book break) tag as well.
• Finally, I'm very much enjoying my role as guest-podcaster with Tamara at Shelf Addiction. We are continuing the #3bloggers1series read-alongs (I'm super excited about the series that we'll be starting after the 3rd title in the Grisha trilogy), and I'm doing some mini-reviews in the new "Shelf Byte" feature that Tamara kicked off this year.  So if podcasts are your jam, please check this one out. 

ABCs of Authors - Weekly Geeks 2011-14

Two memes in a row, is this a problem?  The Geeks are suggesting we post an alphabetical list of authors - favorites, or categorized any way you like, this week.  With a bit of cheating, I managed to find almost 26-- these are all authors I've read and enjoyed.  Not necessarily my all time faves -- I have way too many B's, C's, and S's on that list, but it's a fun little exercise:

A	Keri Arthur
B	Meljean Brook
C	Jacquelyn Carey
D	Alyssa Day
E	Eloisa James (cheat)
F	Jane Feather
G	Diana Gabaldon
H	Kim Harrison
I	Ilona Andrews (cheat)
J	Sabrina Jeffries
K	Jayne Ann Krentz
L	Stephanie Laurens
M	Devon Monk
N	Nora Roberts (cheat)
O	Maggie Osborne
P	Mary Jo Putney
Q	Julia Quinn
R	Luann Rice
S	S.M. Stirling
T	Sherry Thomas
U	Umberto Eco*
V	Lynn Viehl
W	J.R. Ward
X	X-Men Comic author Marjorie Liu
Y	Yeah, I got nothing.
Z	Roger Zelazney

*Ahahahahahaha. Not really.


If you're new to the Weekly Geeks, I really suggest you check them out.  It's book-blog oriented, and they're more writing or post- prompts than a meme, really, because it's different every week.  I don't participate in all of them but the nice thing is that sooner or later they have topic that will appeal.  Show some Geek Love and visit a few at the Mr. Linky.

2010 New Author Round-up

Every Year, Jackie at Literary Escapism hosts a New Author Challenge, the spirit of which I like very much.  However, I'm not very meticulous about posting links etc. so I often don't sign up for the challenge formally.  But I think it's worth talking about -- it's very easy to stay in that circle of known authors, especially with everyone writing series these days.  Sometimes it helps to have a nudge to try someone new.  So I fell pretty short of the challenge goal of 50, but here's my round-up.  I'm sure there are a few I've missed, as I'm also not especially meticulous about documenting what I've read unless I also happen to review it.  (I read lots and lots of books that I don't review).

In no particular order:

Jill Sorenson
Louise Allen
Diana Rowland*
Jennifer Rardin*
Kate Emerson
Cherie Priest*
Barbara Monajem
Wendy Markham
Carolyn Crane
Keri Arthur*
Elisabeth Naughton
Gayle Williams
Shaba Abe
Vicky Pettersson - no reviews yet but really liking the Zodiac series
Devon Monk* - wait, really? no reviews on this one either?  love, love loving it
Tracy Madison
Laura Wright
Nancy Holzner
Courtney Milan
Meredith Duran
Christie Ridgeway
Charles de Lint
N. K. Jemisin

*The starred authors are ones I was inspired to try by Jackie's various "mini-challenges" that she held throughout 2010.  I find it much easier to commit to a monthly theme than a whole year-long goal!

Where Am I, Again?

Normally, in January (wow, this is my THIRD January blogging here!) I like to do a "Look Ahead" post, and compile a list of upcoming can't-wait releases. But to tell the truth, I got so buried in paranormal series over the last couple of years, I've kind of lost track of some of my old favorites, and I thought it would be a good idea to stop and take a breath, and try to figure out where I am.

So, meander through the contemporary and historical shelves with me, if you will, and let's check out a few neglected faves, and try to correct that in 2010, shall we? We shall. (And by "we," I mean "me." Apparently we're using the royal we tonight. Well. Anyhoo.)

Favorite authors that I’ve fallen behind with:

Madeline Hunter:
Already out – The Sins of Lord Esterbrook
Coming in 2010 (January) – Ravishing in Red

Robyn Carr:
Auggh, I’m 3 books behind and there are another three coming out between now and March. What am I saying? Hurray!! A series I don’t have to wait for!

Kathleen Gilles Seidel
A few years ago, I went all through her backlist, titles from 1991 or so through 2002 and loved them. It looks like she’s transitioned more to women’s fiction or mainstream, but I’m looking forward to digging up “A Most Uncommon Degree of Popularity” and “Shut Up and Wear Beige” (which makes me laugh, because it’s advice that my MIL a} quoted to me when I got engaged and b} mostly sort of kind of followed. She totally wore beige, though.)

Curtiss Ann Matlock
Two… or possibly three? books behind in this sweet, cozy small-town series.

Deborah Smith
Hmm. Nothing new*, but it looks like I missed one along the way, “Charming Grace.” And as I peruse the backlist, there’s a couple I’m thinking about re-reading, ‘cause I liked them so much the first time.

*However, as it turns out, she’s started in with an UF series. Not a lot of buzz on the web about Soul Catcher… J. Kaye liked it (5 stars!) and Katibabs hated it (one of her “bottom 5” books of 2009.) Guess I’ll just have to read it for myself!

Sherryl Woods
I know I’m caught up on the Sweet Magnolias because of the unfortunately-named heroine “Jeannette Brioche”. I mean, it’s not every day you have a heroine named after a breakfast roll. But I did catch the holiday themed “Welcome to Serenity” 2008 offering and enjoyed it in spite of the wince-making name. Which means I’ve got the “Chesapeake Shores” series to look forward to. Two books out, one due in this month, and more on contract for November and 2011. Woods also has a short in the recent holiday anthology “That Holiday Feeling.” I’m kind of over the holiday anthologies for the moment, but I’ll keep it in mind next year. Or maybe I’ll do a Christmas in July. Hmmm.

Eloisa James
Totally behind on the dukes. Where am I? Jeeze, I’m three books back. Need It List:

• When the Duke Returns
• This Duchess of Mine
• A Duke of Her Own

Julia Quinn
I’m caught up on all of the Bridgertons and beyond (although I don’t seem to be fangirl enough to care that much about the extra epilogues…) but I actually *bought* all the earlier ones from her backlist and they’ve been languishing on the shelf. (I need a better system, because if you’d asked me this afternoon, I’d’ve told you that everything on my TBR pile was paranormal.)

Jayne Ann Krentz
I’m hopelessly confused on where I am with the Arcane society books, which I adore, really, but not only are they coming out in hardback and that obnoxious thing between mass market and trade (does that have a name? The tall skinny ones?) but they’re coming out under two different names. I R lost. I even have a signed one, but I’ve been afraid to read it because I’m sure there’s earlier ones that I haven’t gotten to yet, and there’s others out since that one. Argh.

Mary Balogh
How far back do I need to go? I hate when there’s a rash of reprints. Let’s see, my Need It List looks something like (whoa, really??!):

• A Precious Jewel
• A Matter of Class
• Simply Magic (I think?)
• Web of Love
• Devil’s Web
• The Guilded Web (own it, haven’t read it)
• Simply Perfect
• The Ideal Wife
• First Comes Marriage
• Then Comes Seduction
• At Last Comes Love
• Seducing an Angel

And, believe it or not, Nora Roberts. Once “my” authors go hardcover, I get very mixed up over whether I’ve read them or not. Cuz I read the blurb, synopsis, buzz, etc. but I hardly every buy it in hardcover. Then when it comes out in paperback, it’s all vaguely familiar so I kind of think I’ve read it even if I haven’t. And don’t get me wrong, I love the woman, but it’s not that hard to get her books mixed up. I don’t know what I’m going to do about the latest ones, maybe troll the used bookstores.

I don’t believe in buying hardback or trade unless absolutely necessary (Crusie, Gabaldon, and Carey are currently my only hardcover authors, although I’ve made a couple of exceptions when attending signings. JR Ward is borderline, I haven't decided what I'm going to do about Lover Mine just yet).

Wow, that's a lot of books. And seriously, my TBR pile is already teetering. But you know, that's better than the alternative. Who could contemplate a world where we've run out of books to read? That's my idea of horror.

______________________________
Apology: If I were a good blogger, I'd build links to all the titles and author pages. But I'm lazy and I'm not gonna do it. Google is your friend, dear reader.

Thursday Thirteen, Edition 17

Good Bye, 2009

A few weeks ago, the Weekly Geeks asked for our 2009 Top Ten. And I meant to participate, I really did. But, you know. Life is busy this time of year. You can still vote for the top books of 2009 at the official voting booth. The sad thing is, some of my favorite books didn't make it, and I have only myself to blame.

For whatever reason, I seem to be more successful at posting to the Thursday Thirteen meme than Weekly Geeks (I think it's because it's easier to make a list than to actually THINK about stuff, like the WG often seem to want -- the NERVE....) so I'm going to post 13 of my favorite 2009 reads. I won't presume to call them 2009's best, and I certainly can't claim to have read all the great 2009 books that came out. So these are just 13 2009 publications that I really, really liked.

1. Meljean Brook's Demon Forged - I love this series so much, but I think I love Irena most of all. She's such an appealing character, tough and vulnerable and so very unusual. Her Olek is a wonderful foil, able to match her toughness but with a delightfully contrasty civilized polish. Brook's world is so imaginative, and she's not afraid to throw the curve balls that will leave you gasping. (Really. I gasped.)
   
2. Nalini Singh's Branded by Fire - Fire is right. You might need to roll around in the snow for awhile after reading this one. Phew. Singh actually had THREE books out in 2009, but this was my favorite by far.
   
3. Patricia Briggs' Bone Crossed - why did I wait so long to read this? I bought it when it came out (I even got it signed!) but for whatever reason I let it sit until this week. I devoured it in less than 24 hours - so good. Instead of fizzling out as so many series do after a few books, this one electrified me with the hints about where Mercy's character is going.
4. Jenna Black's Speak of the Devil - I really like this series. The emotional aspects of Jenna's relationships are so fresh and complicated. The cross-currents are dizzying - you really never know what's going to happen next, or with whom.
5. Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey - I also enjoyed Namaah's Kiss, but this one kind of blew me away. More UF than romance, but there are romantic elements.
6. Alyssa Day's Atlantis Unleashed - I've been following this series, and it's been fun and it's been pretty good, but Unleashed was fantastic. Strides above the predecessors.
7. Ilona Andrews' On The Edge - the strangest mash-up of fairy tale, UF, medieval romance, and redneck sensibility that ever worked like big huge working thing that totally works really well.
   
8. Mary Jo Putney's Loving a Lost Lord - MJP returns to non-paranormal historicals with a wonderful twist on the tired amnesia trope. I just flat-out loved this book.
9. Anna Campbell's Captive of Sin - I'm totally an Anna Campbell fan, although I know her style doesn't appeal to everyone. In order to write her damaged heroes, Campbell dives ever deeper into the human capacity for creative and horrible torture, and this story is no different. Generally this kind of thing makes me squeamish, but she pulls it off. I felt like this story took a step away from her almost-cartoonish over-the-top setups of past books and showed a bit more maturity in the plotting.
10. Jennifer Haymore's Hint of Wicked - my favorite debut this year. The woman writes sexual tension like nobody's business.
11. Though Carrie Lofty's What a Scoundrel Wants is certainly a contender for that title, too. Technically, this was a 2008 release, but it was very late in the year and it was a 2009 read for me. Really interesting heroine and spot-on action scenes make this book a standout.
    
12. Victoria Dahl makes a double-splash into the contemporary pool with Start Me Up and Talk Me Down. While they had some weaknesses -- I didn't think the suspense element worked that well in either book -- I did love the main characters, especially the women. You haven't seen BFF dialog like this since Jenny Crusie's pre-collaboration days.
13. Oh, what to choose for the final book! I can't decide between Carolyn Jewel's Scandal, The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie (Jennifer Ashley), and Not Quite a Husband (Sherry Thomas). What these books have in common is that I probably wouldn't have read them if it weren't for Romancelandia, and I'm having some trouble separating my liking them from my suggestibility. I liked them all, a lot, but I didn't review any of them. I had trouble finding anything original to say. I think in the case of both Thomas and Jewel, they're a little slower than my usual favorites, which might have been a disadvantage. However, I read them already thinking about complexities that were discussed by JessicaRRR and others, and I think it made me more appreciative of the texture of the books. Really hard to choose a favorite among those three.

Now, there are a number of 2009 books that might've made this list if I had gotten them read. A few of those are:

Darkness Calls - Marjorie Liu
Queen of Song and Souls - CL Wilson
Lord of Pleasure - Delilah Marvelle
Smooth-talking Stranger - Lisa Kleypas (waiting for paperback!)
Echo in the Bone - Diana Gabaldon

And I'm working on the backlist for a bunch of authors, so maybe next year their 2010 offerings will make an appearance.

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The Windsor List: Top 16 All-Time Favorite Romances

I'm jumping on Jessica's bandwagon here, to honor Kathleen Windsor, author of Forever Amber. See link for more details.

This is hard. And they're not in order. I tend to remember authors better than individual titles, so in some cases I've picked the author and then guessed on which book it was that I liked the most. And yeah, I cheated-- they're not all exactly romances, but they all have strong romantic elements. (links go to related Alpha Heroes posts)

1. Gone With The Wind, Margaret Mitchell (duh)
2. Outlander, Diana Gabaldon
3. Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
4. Kushiel's Dart, Jacqueline Carey
5. Captive Passions, Fern Michaels.
6. Earth Song, Catherine Coulter
7. Through a Dark Mist, Marsha Canham
8. Spymaster's Lady, Joanna Bourne
9. LaVyrle Spencer, either Sweet Memories or Morning Glory
10. Captives of the Night, Loretta Chase
11. Shattered Rainbows, Mary Jo Putney
12. Lover Revealed, JR Ward
13. The Lady Chosen, Stephanie Laurens
14. Timeless Passion, Constance O'Day-Flannery
15. Bet Me, Jennifer Crusie
16. Fancy Pants, Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Hmmm. Maybe in 2010 I'll see if I can actually review all of these. That would be a fun goal.

The End

Antholopalooza by the Numbers:

69 Novellas and Short Stories (Hah, I swear I didn’t plan that!)
60 Different Authors
44 New-to-Me Authors
19 Anthology-related posts
11 Anthologies read
8 Mr. Linky sign-ups (seriously, that’s kind of pathetic, but thanks for trying, Jackie!)
4 Thursday-13s (last one is tomorrow)
2 Guest Posts
2 Anthologies left unread on the shelf
2 Cheated on Antholopalooza with 2 full-length novels (coincidence?)

I can't believe I did this, but I went and bought ANOTHER anthology today. Despite the fact that I'm a) burned out on them and b) still kind of lukewarm on them as a category, I can't let there be something by Meljean out there languishing unread. So First Blood is waiting for me. I'm a fast reader, but even I can't finish it tonight to change my numbers.... but it's not IMpossible that I might finish Thicker Than Blood in 2008.

For those of you who missed out this month or couldn't squeeze it in with the holiday hubbub, Jackie is hosting the Bookworm Carnival in January with, you guessed it, an anthology theme. So you'll get another shot, and maybe I'll squeeze my last 2 3 anthologies in over there.

Happy New Years' everyone. Be safe ringing in 2009, and may next year be the best one yet for you and yours.

Advance Planning

I didn’t really do any challenges in 2008. I didn’t know that much about them, and I've always pretty much hated anything that smacked of “required reading." But one thing I’ve really liked about keeping this blog and becoming involved with other book bloggers is the way I hear about great books. So this year I’m going to commit to a couple of challenges that are near and dear to my heart. It’s kind of a funny process for choosing what challenges to join – I don’t want to join too many, because I already have a job, and it doesn’t make sense to me to join challenges about books I would probably read anyway—for example, Naida is hosting a challenge to read 5 romance books in 2009. Um. I will most likely hit that mark within two weeks. Maybe less, given that there’s a holiday in there, so I’m not signing up for that one—not much point for me (though, since Alpha Heroes is totally about romance novels, I'd like to think I could serve as a resource for that particular challenge).

As a fast reader, I’m all about quantity; I go through lots and lots of books, and while I’m loyal to authors I like, it takes a LOT of them to keep up with me, and then sometimes I just want something new. Like grocery shopping when I’m hungry, being in a bookstore all unprepared when this feeling hits me can be a very dangerous thing. I think it will be a great exercise in discipline and planning to try to stay ahead of that cycle with a list I can keep in my back pocket. (Or sidebar. Whatever.)

So the 50 New Authors Challenge, hosted by Jackie over at Literary Escapism, really appeals to me. I touched on it a little bit this year (before I changed the blog format) by just keeping a list of new authors I wanted to try. My personal rule for this challenge is going to be that if I’ve read a short story or novella by the author, it still counts as a new-to-me author. Just because; I’m being arbitrary about it and last I heard, there are no Book Challenge Police.

Mechanics: I’m going to keep a sidebar item through 2009 with links to the challenge updates. I’ll to try to post monthly on how each of my challenges is going.

To start off, here is an incomplete list of authors I want to sample in 2009. I’ll give an update near the end of January of 2009 on how it’s going. Here’s my list so far, in no particular order—recommendations welcome! Actively solicited, even; that’s mostly how I got this list:

1 Ilona Andrews
2 Linnea Sinclair
3 JL Langley
4 Samantha Kane
5 Kelley Armstrong
6 Josh Lanyon
7 Rachel Vincent
8 Karen Chance
9 Justin Gustainis
10 Jeri Smith-Ready
11 Shannon McKenna
12 Katie MacAlister
13 Alexis Morgan
14 Anya Bast

The 1% Well-Read Challenge

Or: Why I Don’t Read Lit-Tra-Toor


Being all full of noble purpose from the Banned Books list, I decided to check out the 1% challenge. I’ve seen a couple of references to it here and there and had been meaning to look it up.

Today, over a cup of coffee, in my PJs with the kids playing/arguing downstairs, I finally got around to it. As it turns out, I am 5.4% well-read. Maybe our school system isn’t so flawed after all, because a lot of the ones I’ve read were from school assignments in junior high and high school. (Um. Other than the erotica, that is.)

Then again, there are some titles on that list that probably aren’t ever going to show up on any high school English teacher’s list, at least not in the US. Lady Chatterly’s Lover? Not as sexy as you’d think. 120 Days of Sodom? Seriously gross (I started it many years ago but couldn’t finish). Lolita, The Story of O, Delta of Venus—also not likely to show up on any recommended summer reading list for the < 18 crowd. Not that a horny 15 year old might not want to read them… but most adults probably aren’t going to suggest them. I read one of the Gabriel Garcia Marquez titles and actually thought that I might end up in the past when I finished, it was so slow going.

Lucky for me, there were a couple of Douglas Adams titles on the list, although how Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency ranks above The Restaurant At The End of the Universe is beyond me. And three of my all-time favorite books-- Gone With The Wind, Catch-22, and The Once and Future King-- made it, hurray.

Mostly though, it seemed to me to be a list of about 900 tremendously depressing books. I will tell you right now, I am NEVER going to read American Psycho, The Virgin Suicides, or <shudder> The Tin Drum. I have absolutely zero interest in reading about unspeakable acts that humans are capable of perpetrating on themselves and on each other. I can always read the news for that.

Reading for me is entertainment and escapism. Perhaps I am being intellectually lazy by not slogging through Dostoevski and Updike (and yeah, I consider them to be about equally readable, as in: not very) but I have concluded that I can live with that. So I’ve decided that I’m not going to bother with the 1% well-read challenge. I’m well-read enough.*

Why is it that pain and hardship and depression and death and disease and cruelty and horror seem more intellectually valid than love and desire and pleasure and joy? Why is a happy ending code for “non-literary” and non-intellectual?

I don’t know. And I don’t much care any more. I read books that I enjoy, that make me feel good. Of course some conflict is needed to make the story interesting, but I want it all to come out OK in the end. I want my happily ever after, dammit.

____________

*It's an interesting list, and an interesting challenge though. I encourage you to check it out for yourself and draw your own conclusions.

I've Been Tagged! Banned Book Week Meme

How many have YOU read?

Celebrating Banned Book Week 2008, here is the ALA's list of the 100 most frequently challenged books from 1990 through 2000.

How to Play:

1: Copy this list.
2: Highlight the ones you have read (or at least remember reading) in RED.
3: Tag five people to play.

The List:

1. Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
2. Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
3. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
4. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
6. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
7. Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling (well, part of it anyway)
8. Forever by Judy Blume
9. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
10. Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
11. Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
12. My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
13. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
14. The Giver by Lois Lowry
15. It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
16. Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
17. A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
18. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
19. Sex by Madonna
20. Earth’s Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
21. The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
22. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (just bought this one for my daughter!)
23. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
24. Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
25. In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
26. The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
27. The Witches by Roald Dahl
28. The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
29. Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry
30. The Goats by Brock Cole
31. Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
32. Blubber by Judy Blume
33. Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
34. Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
35. We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
36. Final Exit by Derek Humphry
37. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
38. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
39. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
40. What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras
41. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
42. Beloved by Toni Morrison
43. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
44. The Pigman by Paul Zindel
45. Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
46. Deenie by Judy Blume
47. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
48. Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
49. The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
50. Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
51. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
52. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
53. Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
54. Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
55. Cujo by Stephen King
56. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl (does it count if I saw the movie?)
57. The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
58. Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
59. Ordinary People by Judith Guest
60. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
61. What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras
62. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
63. Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
64. Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
65. Fade by Robert Cormier
66. Guess What? by Mem Fox
67. The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
68. The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
69. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
70. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
71. Native Son by Richard Wright
72. Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women’s Fantasies by Nancy Friday
73. Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
74. Jack by A.M. Homes
75. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
76. Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
77. Carrie by Stephen King
78. Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
79. On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
80. Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
81. Family Secrets by Norma Klein
82. Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
83. The Dead Zone by Stephen King
84. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
85. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
86. Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
87. Private Parts by Howard Stern
88. Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford
89. Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
90. Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
91. Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
92. Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
93. Sex Education by Jenny Davis
94. The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
95. Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
96. How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
97. View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
98. The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
99. The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
100. Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

Total: 21

I'll go one step further: I will commit to reading at least 10 more books off this list before Banned Books Week of 2009. Anyone care to join me?

TAG YOU’RE IT:

Jackie, at Literary Escapism
Shannon, at What Women Read
Betsy, at The Dog's Pajamas
Susan, at Seaside Book Worm Blogger
Ms. Bitchpants, at Bitchpants: Activate!

Come back and leave a comment with a link if you choose to participate!

How I Write My Reviews

A friend on a forum mentioned that she had been asked to do a book review and asked me for some pointers. Which got me thinking about my “process,” such as it is, for reviewing a book.

Bear with me, this may involve some navel-gazing.

In 7th grade, I had a whip-cracking English teacher who made us write a one page composition EVERY SINGLE WEEK. And! she took off a WHOLE LETTER GRADE if you wrote even one single sentence fragment, comma splice, or run-on sentence. (This post would get a failing grade, since I have embraced the fragment as part of my signature style).

If that weren’t bad enough, she required a book report every other week… and the format for said report was a TWO PAGE OUTLINE. Outline!! Figure at least a paragraph for each line in the outline—that’s a long book report. Sheesh. Erm. Not that it made any kind of impression on me or anything. The outline included things like “what was the theme of the book” and “describe the mood”-- much harder than "this book was about a girl growing up and I really liked it because she was nice and the book was nice and that's why I liked it."

Then in college I took a creative writing class which broke the elements of fiction down into a list. Each week we covered a short story that featured a particular element – my favorite was The Babysitter, by Robert Coover to illustrate the power of point of view, which was sort of a literary version of this Gilligan's Island episode (wait for the 2nd half). Also memorable was Hills Like White Elephants by Hemingway, which the teacher used to talk about how setting could influence or reflect the theme/plot of the story. And so on. (This, by the way, is the sum total of my academic literary credentials, in case you were wondering.)

Then, after college, I joined a writer’s workshop. It was very lively, and the critique process was really enlightening. That group also had a pet list.

So from these sources, I’ve developed sort of a mental checklist of elements. It’s not that I cover every single one of them for every single book, but I typically write about whichever ones stand out for me, good or bad. The list is something like this:

Main Characters: are they believable, likeable, empathetic, interesting; do they develop through the story in believable ways? Do I believe in their love/attraction for each other? (this is my #1 requirement for a romance).

Plot: my bar is low here, really. Don’t screw it up. Don’t rely on the Big Misunderstanding, Stupid Omissions, the Deep Dark Secret, or the 180-degree Character Turn-Around.

Pacing: most noticeable when it drags. Love scenes and fight/action scenes are where this tends to be critical. Occasionally I might notice some choppiness, or confusing or jarring transitions. When it's good, you keep on turning pages even when dinner is burning or the sun starts rising or <fill in cue of your choice>.

Point of View: the story needs to be told from inside someone’s head. Who is it? Is the language appropriate for that person? Are the transitions between POV characters smooth and unobtrusive? Are there too many? Not enough? Are you (the author) telling me things that the POV character can’t actually know? a perfect recent example:

"So absorbed in the beauty of his pleasure, she barely noticed when something bounced against her throat. A pendant. A necklace had come free of his shirt's neckline, and the silver dagger encircled by snakes dangled against her skin, a cool sharp, caress." from Pleasure Unbound, Larissa Ione

See, that's a lot of detail for something that "she barely noticed." And if it's bouncing against her throat, how exactly did she see it? Classic POV problem.

Voicing: Related to POV. More than dialog; it’s internal as well as external; it’s about the language choices for each of the characters. Not just what they say and think, but the way they do it. Do the characters all sound the same? Is each voice consistent, and appropriate to his/her age, personality, place in the story, etc?

Setting/world-building: I’m not an expert on historical eras, so a lack of glaring mistakes is usually good enough for me. ( Please don’t have the word “Okay” in Regency dialog. Please. Pretty please?) However, in paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and sci-fi/fantasy, world-building will make or break your story. It needs to be consistent, believable, understandable, balanced, and have an interesting premise. Tip: be very wary of creating your own language. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but IMO few popular authors do it well and it can break my suspension of disbelieve pretty fast.

Secondary characters: as far as I’m concerned, you don’t NEED any characters beyond the hero and heroine. But secondary characters can add tons of interest to the book; they can mirror and/or add complexity to the main plot, give you a window to the main characters, and lend alternate points of view; they can add a humorous element to a dark story and of course, lay the groundwork for their own future stories, if we’re talking about a series. My biggest peeves with secondary characters is when they’re flat and boring, caricature-ish, or when they take over a story.

So these are the basics of the question “what works, what doesn’t work.” Usually I like my reviews to be more than “wow, this was really good, you should read it!!” so I look for a hook; something that is unique to the book or the author that I can build a “composition” on. I don’t write summaries – that isn’t a review, IMO. What happens in the story does not constitute a review. What does constitute a review, beyond what works and what doesn’t work, is why I like the story or don’t like it; what stays with me after I close the cover; what does it make me think about; what does it make me wonder about; are there connections I can draw to other books, other characters, other cultural icons.

If nothing else leaps out at me, I turn to the characters. I’m repeating myself now, but I can forgive mediocrity in almost any area of a romance IF the characters are great. Romance is fundamentally about two people falling in love – nothing else can compensate for characters that I don’t care about. So if I can’t find anything interesting to say about the characters, it’s probably not worth it to me to do the review.

So I usually spend some time focusing on the main characters and what draws them together, what keeps them apart. How do the characters slay their dragons? What’s the one thing that makes them a perfect match? And what do I have to say about it?

It can be tricky to do this without spoilering, so often you’ll just see me say things like “I love the pacing; I love how they overcome their obstacles; the author does this or that really well,” without telling exactly what is done. So it really kind of does boil down to “wow, this was really good,” but I try to be specific about WHAT EXACTLY is really good.

Oh, and PS: Thank you, Mrs. Rose! I wouldn't be doing this today without all those book reports under my belt. Sorry about the fragments.

.

"LibraryThing" Game

I dunno who started this, but it seems fun. Copy and play along if you are so inclined, and if you want, leave a link to your blog in comments.


Here is the Top 100 Most Popular Books list on LibraryThing.
Bold what you own.
italicize what you’ve read.
Star what you liked. *
Star multiple times what you loved! ***


1. Harry Potter and the sorcerer’s stone by J.K. Rowling
2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6) by J.K. Rowling
3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Book 5) by J.K. Rowling
4. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Book 2) by J.K. Rowling
5. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Book 3) by J.K. Rowling
6. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Book 4) by J.K. Rowling
7. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
8. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7) by J.K. Rowling
10. 1984 by George Orwell
11. Pride and Prejudice (Bantam Classics) by Jane Austen
12. The catcher in the rye by J.D. Salinger
13. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
14. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
15. The lord of the rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
16. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
17. Jane Eyre (Penguin Classics) by Charlotte Bronte
18. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
19. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
20. Animal Farm by George Orwell
21. Angels & demons by Dan Brown
22. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
23. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
24. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
25. The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, Part 1) by J.R.R. Tolkien
26. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
27. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
28. The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, Part 2) by J.R.R. Tolkien
29. The Odyssey by Homer
30. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller****
31. Slaughterhouse-five by Kurt Vonnegut
32. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - I couldn't finish. It hurt my brain.
33. The return of the king : being the third part of The lord of the rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
34. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
35. American Gods: A Novel by Neil Gaiman
36. The chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
37. The hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy by Douglas Adams***
38. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
39. The lovely bones: a novel by Alice Sebold
40. Ender’s Game (Ender, Book 1) by Orson Scott Card
41. The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials, Book 1) by Philip Pullman
42. Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Neil Gaiman***
43. Dune by Frank Herbert (my husband made me)
44. Emma by Jane Austen
45. Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
46. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Bantam Classics) by Mark Twain
47. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
48. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
49. Middlesex: A Novel by Jeffrey Eugenides
50. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire--auggh, hated, could not finish
51. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
52. The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
53. The Iliad*** by Homer
54. The Stranger by Albert Camus (in French </smug>)
55. Sense and Sensibility (Penguin Classics) by Jane Austen
56. Great Expectations (Penguin Classics) by Charles Dickens
57. The Handmaid’s Tale: A Novel by Margaret Atwood* (OMG, totally freaked me out; paranoiacs should avoid at all costs.)
58. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
59. Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt
60. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery (in French </smug>)
61. The lion, the witch and the wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
62. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
63. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
64. The Grapes of Wrath (Centennial Edition) by John Steinbeck, ugh, thank you HS sophomore English for planting images in my brain that I've never quite shed....
65. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
66. The Name of the Rose: including Postscript to the Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
67. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
68. Moby Dick by Herman Melville
69. The complete works by William Shakespeare - read lots of it, but not nearly all.
70. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond
71. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
72. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
73. Hamlet (Folger Shakespeare Library) by William Shakespeare
74. Of Mice and Men (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century) by John Steinbeck
75. A Tale of Two Cities (Penguin Classics) by Charles Dickens
76. The Alchemist (Plus) by Paulo Coelho
77. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
78. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
79. The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition by William Strunk
80. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
81. The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials, Book 2) by Philip Pullman
82. Atonement: A Novel by Ian McEwan
83. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
84. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
85. Dracula by Bram Stoker
86. Heart of Darkness (Dover Thrift Editions) by Joseph Conrad
87. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
88. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
89. The amber spyglass by Philip Pullman
90. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Penguin Classics) by James Joyce
91. The Unbearable Lightness of Being: A Novel (Perennial Classics) by Milan Kundera
92. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
93. Neuromancer by William Gibson
94. The Canterbury Tales (Penguin Classics) by Geoffrey Chaucer
95. Persuasion (Penguin Classics) by Jane Austen
96. Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
97. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
98. Angela’s Ashes: A Memoir by Frank McCourt
99. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
100. The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli

Read: 39
Own, but haven't read: 28 (a lot of these belong to my husband)

Hope you don't mind that I scrimped on the "liked/didn't like" evaluations-- some of these were an awfully long time ago... as in, I recognize a real lot of these from my 7th grade summer reading list. As a hint? Orwell's 1984 was still futuristic when I read it.

Of the 61 I haven't read, there are a handful that I sincerely hope I die without ever reading, and maybe a dozen or so that I expect to get around to someday. The rest I'm indifferent to. Popular != good.

Another List

A few posts down, O’Donovan asked, “What am I missing?” in regards to releases between June and December of 2008. So, more poking around… uh, I mean, researching yields the following list for books to watch for:

June, Liz Carlyle, Never Romance a Rake
June, Christine Warren, Walk on the Wild Side
July, Lynn Viehl, Twilight Fall
July, Eloisa James, Duchess by Night
July, Marjorie Liu, The Wild Road
July, Carly Phillips, Hot Property
July, Christina Dodd, Into the Shadow
August, Christina Dodd, Into the Flame
August, Julia London, American Diva
August, Stephanie Laurens, The Edge of Desire
August, Susan Andersen, Cutting Loose
August, Susan Mallery, Sweet Spot
August, Jennifer Crusie, Agnes and the Hitman (if you didn’t spring for this in hardback, now is the time!)
October, Lisa Kleypas, Seduce Me at Sunrise
October, Carly Phillips, Lucky Charm
September, JoAnn Ross, Crossfire
September, Christine Warren, One Bite with a Stranger
November, Nora Roberts, The Pagan Stone
November, Eloisa James, When the Duke Returns

That should help.

The 2008 Look Ahead from O'Donovan

OK, I was inspired by Nicola's post to look ahead at the forthcoming lists and, wow, it's going to be a fab year in reading, as evidenced by the number of things I just preordered from Amazon.

On my list:

March 4 - Tangled Webs by Anne Bishop. Fantasy, mostly, but anyone who likes the much-discussed Black Dagger books (but would like less tic-filled writing) should read Anne Bishop's Black Jewels books

March 4 - Thigh High by Christina Dodd. I just love Christina Dodd's historicals; her contemporaries tend to be thrillers and not so much fun, but let's give it a shot, eh?

March 28 - Personal Demon by Kelley Armstrong. Kelley Armstrong is Canadian and funny and has tough, clever heroines and very satisfyingly modern romances, albeit with werewolves and vampires and demons.

May 27 - The Lost Duke of Wyndham by Julia Quinn. Thanks entirely to her Bridgerton books, Julia Quinn could pied piper me right off of a cliff. I'll buy anything she cares to write (although her pre-Bridgerton books, honestly, aren't crucial to own).

July 29 - Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs. Her Mercy Thompson books are tough and sexy and tense and hot, and I have complete faith in her ability to deliver the same sexual tension and great plotting with Charles and Anna. (Although, according to the Briggs blog, this book is a running a little late; good God, I hate it when publishing dates get pushed back.)

June 3 - Lover Enshrined by J.R. Ward. I'm like a crack addict for these books. Crack. Addict.

Dec. 30 (or April?) - Can't Take My Eyes Off of You by Judith McNaught. I'll buy anything Judith McNaught wants to write, but I am crossing my fingers that she is still on top of her game. I fell for her and Jude Deveraux at the same time, and Ms. Deveraux books have really stopped appealing to me, while Ms. McNaught's are still must-haves. I guess we'll see.

OK, that's a long, dry spell between June and December. What am I missing?

Books I'm Looking Forward To in 2008

Just a quick list, by no means inclusive. Just spent a Sunday poking around my favorite authors' websites, is all. Also, too lazy to put in the links. I have faith that you can find them on Amazon or the author's website if you are so inclined.

Catherine Anderson: Morning Light – already out
Lynn Viehl: Evermore – hit the shelves last week.
Mary Balogh: Devil’s Web – already out, and I seem to have missed Irresistible, which came out in October. Hmmm.
Stephanie Laurens: Where the Heart Leads – January 29, 2008
Marjorie Liu: The Last Twilight – January 2008. And a new series starting in June.
Nora Roberts: The Hollow (book 2 in the Sign of Seven Trilogy)– May 2008. This is weird. She's been releasing them a lot closer together in the past few years. Bummer.
JR Ward: Lover Enshrined – June 2008
Jacqueline Carey: Kushiel’s Mercy – Auggggh, not until June.
Christina Dodd: Into the Shadow – not ‘til July, dangit. I really liked the first two.
Jennifer Crusie: You Again – no date. Hmmm, no sign of that guy she’s been co-authoring with either. Interesting.

Favorite Authors

OK, just a quick overview of some of my current favorite authors:

Contemporary:
Jennifer Crusie
Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Catherine Anderson
Susan Anderson
Kathleen Gilles Seidel
Curtiss Ann Matlock
Deborah Smith-- When Venus Fell is my favorite thus far, tho there are newer ones. Check her out especially if you like southern gothic.
Luanne Rice
Nora Roberts
Jayne Ann Krentz
Robyn Carr -- sweet and gossipy
Sheryl Woods


Historicals:
Christina Dodd
Christina Skye
Loretta Chase
Stephanie Laurens
Bettina Krahn
Lisa Kleypas
Mary Balogh
Mary Jo Putney
Laura Kinsale
Madeline Hunter
Maggie Osborne--pretty much the only westerns I'll read. They're irresistible.

Paranormals:
JR Ward
Marjorie Liu
Christine Warren