50 Book Challenge
Sep. 17th, 2003 03:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mousmeI forgot about this after March, but remembered now and tried to make as comprehensive a list of what I've been reading since January. I think I've forgotten a bunch, though. :(
Here's my list (cross-posted to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
50bookchallenge). I've just copied and pasted my previous posts here too, so the list gets kinda long. You've been warned. :)
Also, since I haven't really been keeping track, there are probably a few missing which I'll remember eventually, and the list is no longer in order of reading.
"A room without books is like a body without a soul."
--Cicero
1- Deathscent (Robin Jarvis); a well-written novel in the fantasy genre, with a well-conceived background, finely crafted plotlines and likeable characters. Can't say much as I highly recommend it as an afternoon read and there would be major spoilers involved.
2- The Ill-Made Mute (Cecilia Dart-Thornton); a book which made me want to scream in frustration, because everything was excellent except for the writing, which ruined the whole thing. It's a fantasy novel, and the setting obviously had a lot of thought put into it and was incredibly elaborate and consistent (which is difficult). The characters were credible and three-dimensional, and the plot had a lot of merit. The author just seemed to feel compelled to write in that horrid pseudo-middle-English which just makes me cringe. It was also grammatically incorrect, although not many people short of Middle English scholars would be able to tell, for what that's worth.
3- Sir À Propos of Nothing (Peter David); (can we tell I was doing holiday reading?) This was a fun romp, again in a fantasy setting, starring an unlikely hero named Apropos, son of a whore in the kingdom of good king Runcible.
4- La petite fille qui aimait trop les allumettes (Gaétan Soucy); roughly translated: The Little Girl Who Loved Matches too much. A bizarre, slightly twisted tale of a little girl who's convinced she's a boy. The language is exquisite, sometimes too much so the way French novels can be, the characterisation subtle, at once punitive and gentle with the two main characters. It's just a few shades short of genius, IMNSHO.
5- One Good Story, That One (Thomas King); one of my favourite collections of short stories: subtle, ironic, sarcastic, yet gentle and probing at the same time. A thoughtful yet not abusive look at how Native Americans are perceived by white people, and what has become of the tradition of oral storytelling.
6- Traitor's Purse (Margery Allingham); an Albert Campion mystery, which I always enjoy no matter how silly they are. This one reads much like any other Campion, and I can heartily recommend it to any fancier of British Detective novels.
7- The Bone Doll's Twin (Lynn Flewelling); the first in what promises to be a truly excellent fantasy series. The writing is a tad uneven, but it has moments of chilling intensity. It's the story of a kingdom condemned to plague and famine and drought as long as a man rules, but the current king is intent on having the male line inherit the throne. In a terrifying biblical parallel, he has all the daughters born into his house and the rest of the families in his line put to death. Only one wizard and her apprentice decide to seal the fate of the kingdom by saving one girl, but at a price they aren't sure they can ever fully accept.
8- Why Cats Paint (I don't remember the author offhand); people with nothing better to do than give their cats some watercolour gouache paint to play with noticed that their cats actually were capable of representational art. I found myself unable to take it entirely seriously, but at the same time had to fight the urge to head off to my local art supply shop and see if my George and my Pan-Pan could do the same thing. The last thing I need is coloured paw prints in my apartment!
9- City Magick (Christopher Penczak); recommended by a friend, it's a look at how practisers of the modern pagan/wiccan faiths which are closely in tune with nature can coexist with the urban landscape. Not for everyone, obviously, but it has some points of interest.
10- The Annotated Sherlock Holmes (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, E. Baring-Gould); I'm hesitant about putting that as a reading, as it's more a re-reading. I go back to old books like comfort food.
11- The Life of Pi (Yann Martel); an extraordinary allegory about religion and love of life, and winner of the Man Booker Prize 2002. Highly recommend it, as it reads beautifully and on so many levels.
12- Post Captain (Patrick O'Brian); I struggled through this one. Apart from the naval battle scenes, which sprang to life under O'Brian's pen, I found the writing stilted, the characters' motivations always unclear, and the sentence structure sometimes baffling. There were leaps in logic, tremendous holes in the plot, no resolution anywhere to be seen, and events that I would classify as red herrings would it not be an injustice to the herrings to do so. In other words, it wasn't bad enough that I didn't finish it, but I wasn't impressed either.
13- A Test of Wills (Charles Todd); a masterfully crafted mystery, set in the English countryside after the end of the First World War. Apart from an ever so slightly Agatha Christie-esque ending, the book proved to show great insight into the workings of the human mind, and drew a detailed and sensitive portrait of its subject matter.
14- Fight Club (Chuck Palahniuk); read it against my better judgement as I found the movie to be pretty pointless and predictable. The book wasn't much better, except that I loved the ending: the movie copped out, while the book didn't. Thus, my theory of "the book is always better than the movie" still stands.
15- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Ken Kesey); a re-read, and still as good as ever. A moving and insightful classic about the struggles of the inmates of a psychiatric hospital to come to grips with their humanity, among other things.
16- Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor (Stephanie Barron); take Jane Austen and turn her into a Victorian Miss Marple, and there you go. It works surprisingly well for such an odd premise. The author decided that Jane Austen, with her uncanny insight into human nature, would make a great amateur detective, and she does. The voice of the books, written in the first person, is dry, witty, and utterly believable. Not a very serious read, but a good one nonetheless.
17- The Deadly Percheron (John Franklin Bardin); this book begins with the lines: "Jacob Blunt was my last patient. He came into my office wearing a scarlet hibiscus in his curly blond hair. He sat down in an easy chair across from my desk, and said, 'Doctor, I think I'm losing my mind.'" Need I say more? It's an old murder mystery, but it is sheer brilliance and I will never ever stop recommending it.
18- The Last of Phillip Banter (John Franlin Bardin); the second in my trilogy. Not quite as good as The Deadly Percheron, but still really good.
19- Devil Take the Blue Tail Fly (John Frankling Bardin); a spectacular descent into madness and murder. Again, not quite as good as The Deadly Percheron, but pretty amazing still.
20- Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen); a re-read, inspired by Stephanie Barron's book. Still genius, not that you needed to be told that.
21- Masks of the Illuminati (Robert Anton Wilson); technically I shouldn't include it as I haven't quite finished it, but I don't know when I'll get back to this journal, and I know I'll have it finished by tomorrow at latest. It's another mystery (although I didn't know that when I started it), and the two amateur detectives this time are James Joyce and Albert Einstein, shortly before they're to become famous. I'll admit to being perplexed by the plot so far, which seems to be mixing in a whole lot of the Lovecraftian Cthulhu mythos in there along with a number of other occult themes and tends to jump around wildly. Edit to add: I never did get through it. It bogged down and became incomprehensible, and thus I abandoned the attempt.
22- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (J.K. Rowling)
23- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (J.K. Rowling)
24- Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban (J.K. Rowling)
25- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (J.K. Rowling)
Harry Potter has become comfort reading for me, and I can read all four books in about two days now. I kind of feel awkward including them here, but they are reading nonetheless.
26- Love Shook My Heart (varied authors); a collection of short stories about lesbian relationships. Not fantastic, but some of the stories had some interesting insights.
27- The Lady of the Sorrows (Cecilia Dart–Thornton); what a disappointment this second book of hers was for me. The writing improved, but the storytelling (for which I had liked the first book) went way downhill. It was really far too derivative, and if the story it was copying hadn't been too old to be copyrighted, I suspect Ms. Dart-Thornton might be worried about plagiarism suits right now. :P Not to mention that she slipped into a series of clichés each worse than the last. I read the entire book at the Chapters bookstore so I wouldn't have to buy it (it's still in hardcover) because it really wasn't worth the money, and I doubt I'll even bother looking at the third book at all when it comes out.
28- The Names of the Moons of Mars (Patricia Roth Schwartz); another book of short stories revolving around female relationships: mother-daughter, lesbian, friendship, what have you. Thoughtful and insightful at times, a wee bit boring and/or heavy–handed at others. Not a bad read.
29- The Black Dudley Murder (Margery Allingham); put a bunch of English people in a remote manor in the countryside, introduce an elaborately-decorated antique and exotic knife with a suitably gory myth surrounding it, then make them all play a game of "murder in the dark." There you go. Standard English murder-mystery fare, but entertaining nonetheless.
30- No Fat Chicks (Terry Poulton); non-fiction; a cogently-argued book whose basic premise is that America's current preoccupation (not to say obsession) with weight is due to what she terms the "billion-dollar brainwash" orchestrated by the dieting and food industries (owned by the same people). The book loses some of its punch due to a bit of sensationalised writing and some pet statistics that Poulton feels the need to bring up again and again and again, but it does stop to make you think, so I'd recommend it.
31- Orlando (Virginia Woolf); thus I renewed my love affair with Virginia Woolf this year. As happens every time I read a piece of hers, I didn't realise how much I was enjoying the book, nor how much it had captivated my attention, until I tried to put it down. It's a brilliantly-crafted tale with a spectacularly unlikely plot that is nonetheless captivating in the extreme. Recommended reading, folks. Brilliant, brilliant stuff.
32- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (J. K. Rowling); read overnight due to a bout of insomnia. IMNSHO, Rowling gets better with every book. The same small problems with her writing are there, but they pale in comparison with the rest of the work. The characters are evolving in very credible ways, and she's added a great deal of depth to some of the secondary characters which wasn't there before. Some good plot twists, although the end seemed a bit rushed. Nothing truly bad, though.
33- Watership Down (Richard Adams); the classic story of the rabbit Hazel's search for a new warren with his friends when their warren is destroyed by developers. Fabulous stuff, if you like animal stories, and Adams creates a very convincing rabbit "culture."
34- Traveller (Richard Adams); the Civil War as told from the perspective of General Robert E. Lee's horse, Traveller. Again, beautiful storytelling, as long as you like animal stories.
35- Mrs. Dalloway (Virginia Woolf); if you haven't read this, then go do so now, and then go watch The Hours. A spine-chilling insight into madness, futility and death, and all on one sunny day in London, when Mrs. Dalloway is preparing to throw a party.
36- The Fur Person (May Sarton); why do I keep getting the feeling I've already written about this book here? That one, and Orlando, for some readon. :/ Anyway, this is one of my favourite books, which tells the story of Tom Jones and how he evolves from a Cat About Town to a Fur Person. It's supposedly a children's book, but any cat lover should adore this book. It's also fairly short (120 pages), and not too taxing a read.
37- Daggerspell Katharine Kerr
38- Darkspell Katharine Kerr
39- The Bristling Wood Katharine Kerr
40- The Dragon Revenant Katharine Kerr
41- A Time of Exile Katharine Kerr
42- A Time of Omens Katharine Kerr
43- Days of Blood and Fire Katharine Kerr
44- Days of Air and Darkness Katharine Kerr
45- The Red Wyvern Katharine Kerr
46- The Black Raven Katharine Kerr
47- The Fire Dragon Katharine Kerr
Welcome to my latest obsession. ;) I read all of those in twelve days, and am now waiting with baited breath for the next one to come out next year. *bounce* Spectacular Fantasy writing, with a plot so intricately woven that it lasts through all eleven books, without so much as a hitch in the storytelling. Each book stands up well on its own, and she has mastered the art of the "information dump" (i.e. letting the uninformed reader know what happened in past books) without boring the readers who already know what she's talking about. Very thoughtful and complete rendering of an entire world, several different "philosophies" of life (we are talking fantasy books, here, so it's not exactly a complete treatise), and a serious approach to magic and religion.
48- A Game of Thrones George R. R. Martin
49- A Clash of Kings George R. R. Martin
50- A Storm of Swords George R. R. Martin
Another new fantasy obsession, but with fewer books available to read. Very different feel from the Katharine Kerr novels, these are far more "realistic" (for lack of a better word) and gritty, and are quite gripping in spite of being flipping long (each book is over 800 pages). The fourth book is already "behind schedule" if there is such a thing, and driving all fans insane in the process. ;) This author is certainly not afraid of killing off his characters quite brutally if it serves the needs of his story (he doesn't do it often, don't worry), and doesn't balk at controversial or upsetting subject matter if that's what he needs to make the story go forward. Not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach.
51- Resident Evil: The Umbrella Conspiracy (S.D. Perry)
52- Resident Evil: Caliban Cove (S.D. Perry)
53- Resident Evil: City of the Dead (S.D. Perry)
54- Resident Evil: Underworld (S.D. Perry)
55- Resident Evil: Nemesis (S.D. Perry)
56- Resident Evil: Code Name: Veronica (S.D. Perry)
Surprisingly good novelisations of the Resident Evil video games. The author avoided purple prose and melodrama, which made for quick and gripping reads. Very good for light reading on a Sunday afternoon when you have time on your hands and little inclination to do anything else.
57- Hidden Warrior (Lynn Flewelling); the sequel to The Bone Doll's Twin. Good stuff. Consistent writing, not too many clichés, convincing character development. I'm very happy with the way this series is turning out.
58- The Concrete Blonde (Michael Connelly); a murder-mystery set in a vibrant if sordid Los Angeles, following Detective Harry Bosch's investigation of a series of crimes long-thought solved. The Dollmaker, a serial rapist and killer, has seemingly begun to strike again, although Bosch himself killed the man four years ago. Did Bosch kill the wrong man, as the deceased's wife claims (she's suing him and the LAPD for wrongful death)? Or is it the work of a copy cat? Compellingly written, with very few dull moments (although the scenes with Bosch's current girlfriend may as well have been left out —they appear to have been thrown in just so he could have some sort of love interest, and they add little to the overall story).
...
I think there are more, but I can't think of them offhand.
Keep on readin'! :)
Here's my list (cross-posted to
50bookchallenge). I've just copied and pasted my previous posts here too, so the list gets kinda long. You've been warned. :)Also, since I haven't really been keeping track, there are probably a few missing which I'll remember eventually, and the list is no longer in order of reading.
"A room without books is like a body without a soul."
--Cicero
1- Deathscent (Robin Jarvis); a well-written novel in the fantasy genre, with a well-conceived background, finely crafted plotlines and likeable characters. Can't say much as I highly recommend it as an afternoon read and there would be major spoilers involved.
2- The Ill-Made Mute (Cecilia Dart-Thornton); a book which made me want to scream in frustration, because everything was excellent except for the writing, which ruined the whole thing. It's a fantasy novel, and the setting obviously had a lot of thought put into it and was incredibly elaborate and consistent (which is difficult). The characters were credible and three-dimensional, and the plot had a lot of merit. The author just seemed to feel compelled to write in that horrid pseudo-middle-English which just makes me cringe. It was also grammatically incorrect, although not many people short of Middle English scholars would be able to tell, for what that's worth.
3- Sir À Propos of Nothing (Peter David); (can we tell I was doing holiday reading?) This was a fun romp, again in a fantasy setting, starring an unlikely hero named Apropos, son of a whore in the kingdom of good king Runcible.
4- La petite fille qui aimait trop les allumettes (Gaétan Soucy); roughly translated: The Little Girl Who Loved Matches too much. A bizarre, slightly twisted tale of a little girl who's convinced she's a boy. The language is exquisite, sometimes too much so the way French novels can be, the characterisation subtle, at once punitive and gentle with the two main characters. It's just a few shades short of genius, IMNSHO.
5- One Good Story, That One (Thomas King); one of my favourite collections of short stories: subtle, ironic, sarcastic, yet gentle and probing at the same time. A thoughtful yet not abusive look at how Native Americans are perceived by white people, and what has become of the tradition of oral storytelling.
6- Traitor's Purse (Margery Allingham); an Albert Campion mystery, which I always enjoy no matter how silly they are. This one reads much like any other Campion, and I can heartily recommend it to any fancier of British Detective novels.
7- The Bone Doll's Twin (Lynn Flewelling); the first in what promises to be a truly excellent fantasy series. The writing is a tad uneven, but it has moments of chilling intensity. It's the story of a kingdom condemned to plague and famine and drought as long as a man rules, but the current king is intent on having the male line inherit the throne. In a terrifying biblical parallel, he has all the daughters born into his house and the rest of the families in his line put to death. Only one wizard and her apprentice decide to seal the fate of the kingdom by saving one girl, but at a price they aren't sure they can ever fully accept.
8- Why Cats Paint (I don't remember the author offhand); people with nothing better to do than give their cats some watercolour gouache paint to play with noticed that their cats actually were capable of representational art. I found myself unable to take it entirely seriously, but at the same time had to fight the urge to head off to my local art supply shop and see if my George and my Pan-Pan could do the same thing. The last thing I need is coloured paw prints in my apartment!
9- City Magick (Christopher Penczak); recommended by a friend, it's a look at how practisers of the modern pagan/wiccan faiths which are closely in tune with nature can coexist with the urban landscape. Not for everyone, obviously, but it has some points of interest.
10- The Annotated Sherlock Holmes (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, E. Baring-Gould); I'm hesitant about putting that as a reading, as it's more a re-reading. I go back to old books like comfort food.
11- The Life of Pi (Yann Martel); an extraordinary allegory about religion and love of life, and winner of the Man Booker Prize 2002. Highly recommend it, as it reads beautifully and on so many levels.
12- Post Captain (Patrick O'Brian); I struggled through this one. Apart from the naval battle scenes, which sprang to life under O'Brian's pen, I found the writing stilted, the characters' motivations always unclear, and the sentence structure sometimes baffling. There were leaps in logic, tremendous holes in the plot, no resolution anywhere to be seen, and events that I would classify as red herrings would it not be an injustice to the herrings to do so. In other words, it wasn't bad enough that I didn't finish it, but I wasn't impressed either.
13- A Test of Wills (Charles Todd); a masterfully crafted mystery, set in the English countryside after the end of the First World War. Apart from an ever so slightly Agatha Christie-esque ending, the book proved to show great insight into the workings of the human mind, and drew a detailed and sensitive portrait of its subject matter.
14- Fight Club (Chuck Palahniuk); read it against my better judgement as I found the movie to be pretty pointless and predictable. The book wasn't much better, except that I loved the ending: the movie copped out, while the book didn't. Thus, my theory of "the book is always better than the movie" still stands.
15- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Ken Kesey); a re-read, and still as good as ever. A moving and insightful classic about the struggles of the inmates of a psychiatric hospital to come to grips with their humanity, among other things.
16- Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor (Stephanie Barron); take Jane Austen and turn her into a Victorian Miss Marple, and there you go. It works surprisingly well for such an odd premise. The author decided that Jane Austen, with her uncanny insight into human nature, would make a great amateur detective, and she does. The voice of the books, written in the first person, is dry, witty, and utterly believable. Not a very serious read, but a good one nonetheless.
17- The Deadly Percheron (John Franklin Bardin); this book begins with the lines: "Jacob Blunt was my last patient. He came into my office wearing a scarlet hibiscus in his curly blond hair. He sat down in an easy chair across from my desk, and said, 'Doctor, I think I'm losing my mind.'" Need I say more? It's an old murder mystery, but it is sheer brilliance and I will never ever stop recommending it.
18- The Last of Phillip Banter (John Franlin Bardin); the second in my trilogy. Not quite as good as The Deadly Percheron, but still really good.
19- Devil Take the Blue Tail Fly (John Frankling Bardin); a spectacular descent into madness and murder. Again, not quite as good as The Deadly Percheron, but pretty amazing still.
20- Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen); a re-read, inspired by Stephanie Barron's book. Still genius, not that you needed to be told that.
21- Masks of the Illuminati (Robert Anton Wilson); technically I shouldn't include it as I haven't quite finished it, but I don't know when I'll get back to this journal, and I know I'll have it finished by tomorrow at latest. It's another mystery (although I didn't know that when I started it), and the two amateur detectives this time are James Joyce and Albert Einstein, shortly before they're to become famous. I'll admit to being perplexed by the plot so far, which seems to be mixing in a whole lot of the Lovecraftian Cthulhu mythos in there along with a number of other occult themes and tends to jump around wildly. Edit to add: I never did get through it. It bogged down and became incomprehensible, and thus I abandoned the attempt.
22- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (J.K. Rowling)
23- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (J.K. Rowling)
24- Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban (J.K. Rowling)
25- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (J.K. Rowling)
Harry Potter has become comfort reading for me, and I can read all four books in about two days now. I kind of feel awkward including them here, but they are reading nonetheless.
26- Love Shook My Heart (varied authors); a collection of short stories about lesbian relationships. Not fantastic, but some of the stories had some interesting insights.
27- The Lady of the Sorrows (Cecilia Dart–Thornton); what a disappointment this second book of hers was for me. The writing improved, but the storytelling (for which I had liked the first book) went way downhill. It was really far too derivative, and if the story it was copying hadn't been too old to be copyrighted, I suspect Ms. Dart-Thornton might be worried about plagiarism suits right now. :P Not to mention that she slipped into a series of clichés each worse than the last. I read the entire book at the Chapters bookstore so I wouldn't have to buy it (it's still in hardcover) because it really wasn't worth the money, and I doubt I'll even bother looking at the third book at all when it comes out.
28- The Names of the Moons of Mars (Patricia Roth Schwartz); another book of short stories revolving around female relationships: mother-daughter, lesbian, friendship, what have you. Thoughtful and insightful at times, a wee bit boring and/or heavy–handed at others. Not a bad read.
29- The Black Dudley Murder (Margery Allingham); put a bunch of English people in a remote manor in the countryside, introduce an elaborately-decorated antique and exotic knife with a suitably gory myth surrounding it, then make them all play a game of "murder in the dark." There you go. Standard English murder-mystery fare, but entertaining nonetheless.
30- No Fat Chicks (Terry Poulton); non-fiction; a cogently-argued book whose basic premise is that America's current preoccupation (not to say obsession) with weight is due to what she terms the "billion-dollar brainwash" orchestrated by the dieting and food industries (owned by the same people). The book loses some of its punch due to a bit of sensationalised writing and some pet statistics that Poulton feels the need to bring up again and again and again, but it does stop to make you think, so I'd recommend it.
31- Orlando (Virginia Woolf); thus I renewed my love affair with Virginia Woolf this year. As happens every time I read a piece of hers, I didn't realise how much I was enjoying the book, nor how much it had captivated my attention, until I tried to put it down. It's a brilliantly-crafted tale with a spectacularly unlikely plot that is nonetheless captivating in the extreme. Recommended reading, folks. Brilliant, brilliant stuff.
32- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (J. K. Rowling); read overnight due to a bout of insomnia. IMNSHO, Rowling gets better with every book. The same small problems with her writing are there, but they pale in comparison with the rest of the work. The characters are evolving in very credible ways, and she's added a great deal of depth to some of the secondary characters which wasn't there before. Some good plot twists, although the end seemed a bit rushed. Nothing truly bad, though.
33- Watership Down (Richard Adams); the classic story of the rabbit Hazel's search for a new warren with his friends when their warren is destroyed by developers. Fabulous stuff, if you like animal stories, and Adams creates a very convincing rabbit "culture."
34- Traveller (Richard Adams); the Civil War as told from the perspective of General Robert E. Lee's horse, Traveller. Again, beautiful storytelling, as long as you like animal stories.
35- Mrs. Dalloway (Virginia Woolf); if you haven't read this, then go do so now, and then go watch The Hours. A spine-chilling insight into madness, futility and death, and all on one sunny day in London, when Mrs. Dalloway is preparing to throw a party.
36- The Fur Person (May Sarton); why do I keep getting the feeling I've already written about this book here? That one, and Orlando, for some readon. :/ Anyway, this is one of my favourite books, which tells the story of Tom Jones and how he evolves from a Cat About Town to a Fur Person. It's supposedly a children's book, but any cat lover should adore this book. It's also fairly short (120 pages), and not too taxing a read.
37- Daggerspell Katharine Kerr
38- Darkspell Katharine Kerr
39- The Bristling Wood Katharine Kerr
40- The Dragon Revenant Katharine Kerr
41- A Time of Exile Katharine Kerr
42- A Time of Omens Katharine Kerr
43- Days of Blood and Fire Katharine Kerr
44- Days of Air and Darkness Katharine Kerr
45- The Red Wyvern Katharine Kerr
46- The Black Raven Katharine Kerr
47- The Fire Dragon Katharine Kerr
Welcome to my latest obsession. ;) I read all of those in twelve days, and am now waiting with baited breath for the next one to come out next year. *bounce* Spectacular Fantasy writing, with a plot so intricately woven that it lasts through all eleven books, without so much as a hitch in the storytelling. Each book stands up well on its own, and she has mastered the art of the "information dump" (i.e. letting the uninformed reader know what happened in past books) without boring the readers who already know what she's talking about. Very thoughtful and complete rendering of an entire world, several different "philosophies" of life (we are talking fantasy books, here, so it's not exactly a complete treatise), and a serious approach to magic and religion.
48- A Game of Thrones George R. R. Martin
49- A Clash of Kings George R. R. Martin
50- A Storm of Swords George R. R. Martin
Another new fantasy obsession, but with fewer books available to read. Very different feel from the Katharine Kerr novels, these are far more "realistic" (for lack of a better word) and gritty, and are quite gripping in spite of being flipping long (each book is over 800 pages). The fourth book is already "behind schedule" if there is such a thing, and driving all fans insane in the process. ;) This author is certainly not afraid of killing off his characters quite brutally if it serves the needs of his story (he doesn't do it often, don't worry), and doesn't balk at controversial or upsetting subject matter if that's what he needs to make the story go forward. Not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach.
51- Resident Evil: The Umbrella Conspiracy (S.D. Perry)
52- Resident Evil: Caliban Cove (S.D. Perry)
53- Resident Evil: City of the Dead (S.D. Perry)
54- Resident Evil: Underworld (S.D. Perry)
55- Resident Evil: Nemesis (S.D. Perry)
56- Resident Evil: Code Name: Veronica (S.D. Perry)
Surprisingly good novelisations of the Resident Evil video games. The author avoided purple prose and melodrama, which made for quick and gripping reads. Very good for light reading on a Sunday afternoon when you have time on your hands and little inclination to do anything else.
57- Hidden Warrior (Lynn Flewelling); the sequel to The Bone Doll's Twin. Good stuff. Consistent writing, not too many clichés, convincing character development. I'm very happy with the way this series is turning out.
58- The Concrete Blonde (Michael Connelly); a murder-mystery set in a vibrant if sordid Los Angeles, following Detective Harry Bosch's investigation of a series of crimes long-thought solved. The Dollmaker, a serial rapist and killer, has seemingly begun to strike again, although Bosch himself killed the man four years ago. Did Bosch kill the wrong man, as the deceased's wife claims (she's suing him and the LAPD for wrongful death)? Or is it the work of a copy cat? Compellingly written, with very few dull moments (although the scenes with Bosch's current girlfriend may as well have been left out —they appear to have been thrown in just so he could have some sort of love interest, and they add little to the overall story).
...
I think there are more, but I can't think of them offhand.
Keep on readin'! :)
