I've seen this topic on other message boards and thought it might be fun to do it here.

The last book I finished was Nora Roberts Jewels of the Sun. I rated it 4.5 stars.

I really really enjoyed this book and it renewed my faith in Nora Roberts after I slogged through Born in Fire three years ago. It was sooooo romantic and I loved watching the heroine come into her own over the course of the book.

I'm looking forward to picking up the next two books in the trilogy Tears of the Moon and Heart of the Sea.

So what about the rest of you what was the last book you finished? What did you rate it? Why?

Danielle

I finished The Scarlet Letter a few days ago and I rated it 5 stars. I loved that book, and I could see inmediately why it's considered a classic... I found Hawthorne's writing style very interesting, and I was able to easily relate to the characters.
Unfortunately, looks like a lot of people don't enjoy it... I've written a review about that, so I guess it would be unnecessary to talk about it here. Anyway, I found it to be one of the best books I've ever read.

Message edited by its author, Jan 27, 2008, 9:56am.

The Scarlet Letter was a book I read for high school and really hated. Then I had to read it in college and liked it quite a bit more. Then I read it for myself and really loved it! Some things are just not meant to be read in high school!

The last book I read was Thirteen Reasons Why, a young adult novel about a girl with kills herself and leaves behind tapes with her talking about the 13 reasons why she did. Very interesting and a good read. I think I gave it 4.5 stars.

I loved The Scarlet Letter. It's not a feel-good read, that's for sure, but I've read it a couple times and I am always astonished at Hawthorne's insight into the human heart... and his deft and perfect writing.

I am going to finish Wilkie Collin's No Name this afternoon and will probably rate it at 4 stars. Not quite as good as The Woman in White or The Moonstone, but definitely a good story with memorable characters. Gotta love those Victorian novelists :-)

Please Stop Laughing At Me ... I gave it 3 stars because I think a lot of the book is exagerated. I got it thinking that it would be something I would really enjoy as I was a victim of school bullying/ violence and suffered from depression and still have anxiety issues a result of it. But I think that a lot of it is exagerated and that the author is a drama queen. I mean come one she went to 4 different school and at each one she became alienated because she chose not to give in to peer pressure and was severely bullied. I dont buy it....

Small Gods by Terry Pratchett. 5 stars.

Leeny, I haven't read that book, but can I ask why you thought her situation was unrealistic?

The Joke, by Milan Kundera. I gave it four stars; I read it at the recommendation of a friend who loved it, but there was something missing for me. Still, an excellent book.

Simply Love by Mary Balogh i would give it 5 stars as it was a beautiful book, filled with heartwrenching emotion and powerful characters. I loved it!

I just feel that either she exaggerated to sell the book or she really was the problem and had some type of socialization skills. I just find it hard to believe that she went to 4 different schools and at each school they were all physically and emotionally as cruel as she claims they were. I just find it hard to believe that there was not one person in any of her schools that she could have related to. I honestly think a lot of it had to do with how she viewed her self as opposed to her peers. I think that her problem was that she thought she was better than everyone and people made fun of her and she became an outcast and she even talks about in the book how other people who were outcasts like her were beneath her and she made no attemps what so ever to relate to them. I was just really disappointed I was hoping to read a book about a normal teenage girl who had problems with people at her school and bullying because she was different. I was hoping it would be a story that I could related to my own experience but it was rather disappointing and self centered.

I just finished skin by ted dekker and gave it a 4 out 0f 5. I story kept me interested and I finished it in 2 days, but the ending dropped the score down. It was just confusing for me.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. If I weren't biased I'd say 4 stars, but since I've been in love with Diaz since Drown came out in '96, and since Oscar Wao won the Pulitzer, and since I've got an autographed copy... I'm gonna have to say 5.

I finished He Shall Thunder in the Sky by Elizabeth Peters yesterday. I gave it a 4 star rating.

Since this is a part of an 18 book series, I had to include a little bit of my love of the series in the final equation. A story arch that had been building for much of the series was finally resolved in this one, so it was extra nice to read. As these are all mysteries, most of them have focused on strange crimes that were directed at the family, but this one is set during the beginning of WWI so the mystery is about their activities in preventing an Ottoman attack on the Suez Canal. I liked this a lot, since it lent more weight to the story.

All in all, very satisfying!

Message edited by its author, Mar 25, 2009, 12:19pm.

My last read was Grave Surprise by Charlaine Harris.
This is the 2nd in this series, and I didn't think it was as good as the first one. The plot was a little too slow and at the end I just didn't care how the mystery ended. I give it a 2.5 out of 5. I recommend the Sookie series by Harris over this one.

I read Child of Terror by Susan Nagel. I enjoyed reading it although it could have been better cited to back some of her statements.

Message edited by its author, Mar 30, 2009, 5:31pm.

I last read PureHeart by Rita Hsu Syers. I gave it 1 star. It's a bad book.

>16,
There's a Christ-figure DOG in that book? No wonder you gave it one star...

>17,

Yep, it was pretty awful. There was another dog who was the reincarnation of an archangel. And all the animals talked to each other. I felt like I was reading a holy version of Charlotte's Web, only on a much lower level of literary merit.

I just finished The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman and gave it 4.5 stars. Maybe I'm a bit biased cause love of reading is a theme in the book...and I love children's literature...and also Neil Gaiman is a genius. Still, read it!

I just finished Stardust by Neil Gaiman and I loved it! Definitely 4 stars!

I just finished A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers late last week.

I've wanted to read it for a while, even though I had mixed feelings about the title. I guess it still kind of pisses me off. But anyway, I think his ability to be irreverent but still so self-conscious at times really makes his narrative work. It's a fine balance he strikes. And the ending-- I think I would have done it the same way.

Anyway, I give it 4.5 stars, just because his voice is so early-20's guy-- which is realistic-- but...yeah. Excellent work, though, no doubt. Probably one of my favorites now.

Just finished Hearts In Atlantis by Stephen King. The first part of the book was the most fun, at least I think so. I really enjoyed reading it. The rest was written very well too, but somehow the story just didn't seem as interesting to me as the first.

Overall I guess I'll give it a 3.5 stars. As I said the writing was good, but apart from the first story I didn't find it exciting.

I just finished Carrie by Stephen King (again), and it's still amazing. 5 stars!

I just finished Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy Sayers and rated it four stars. Not as good as Gaudy Night, but excellent still. The chimney sweep scene had me laughing so hard, it was like reading Wodehouse. And the Dowager Duchess is AWESOME. I need to find out if she appears in any of the other books!

I just finished Into thin Air by Jon Krakauer and I loved it! It's my goal this year to read more non fiction and Krakauer is making that goal far easier for me to meet! 4 stars.

Middlemarch by George Eliot. 3.5 stars because it was interesting but not enthralling like so many Victorian novels. I read it so that I could have an answer for all the academics who as what I think of it when I say that I like the Victorians. My answer is, "It is apt portrayal of the period, but I prefer other novels from that period better. Of Eliot's novels I like Mill on the Floss and Daniel Deronda better."

I just finished Monster Rally by Scott Michael Wilson last night. I rated it 4 stars because, although I felt it was good, it wasn't a book that I would normally read. However, the authors did seem to know what they were talking about and there are plenty of references and the book mentioneds many interesting movies I would want to see. It would be a fine addition for any classic horror/science fiction fan.

I finished Advance Your Swagger by Fonzworth Bentley a couple days ago. I gave it one star, would have gave it -5 if I could. Too much name-dropping and it was just poorly written overall. I kept waiting for it to get better and it only got worse. I'm glad I only borrowed it from the library instead of buying it.

I just read Shadow of the Wind and it was one of the most surprising and engaging books I have read in a long time. I honestly couldn't put it down! I give it 5 stars.

I just finished reading Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle. I would give it 4 stars.

I really enjoyed the beginning. However, it got to be predictable in the end. That was a part when I feel the story should have ended, but it kept going on. I could see where it could've gone on some more. Needless to say, I loved the characters! Merricat and Constance were really well-developed.

The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong - between 4.5 & 5.0 stars. Kelley Armstrong is one of my favorite writers, and this was wonderful. I feel that the one real shortcoming it had was in no way something that could be avoided - it's the middle book in a trilogy, and it begins and ends with that feeling. That being said, it was still an incredible story, and despite the fact that it's been nearly a year since I read the first book (The Summoning), I was able to jump right in and feel as though I really had simply finished one book and picked up the next. There was not very much down time at all, which I had honestly thought there would be, and so I was thrilled to find myself completely engrossed in the plot and desperate to keep reading, even when my eyes threatened to glue themselves together.

Orlando by Virginia Woolf. I've read about half a dozen of her books so far, and this one is definitely my favorite. Five stars. If you are careful and know your stuff, there are some funny jabs at her contemporaries, and I love that kind of inside baseball shit.

I finally decided to read Peter Pan. Unfortunately I just couldn't get into the story, didn't really like it. Maybe it's because of the translation, I read it in Dutch. Gave it 2.5 stars.

I last read The Burning Girl, by Mark Billingham. It was the fourth in his DI Thorne thriller series, and the worst so far ! I'd give it 2 out of 5, and that's mainly because I managed to finish reading it, but the ending was dreadful !

Finished Better by Atul Gawande today, reading outside in the wonderful sun we're having in the NE lately. I rated it 4 stars and hope to write a review in the next week or so. I actually picked up this book at the insistence of my mother and found it to be a very interesting read. His language and writing style were very readable and I, for the most part, breezed right through it. He gave me insights into the workings of our medical system in the US and where the faults lie. I doubt I'll look at any doctor the same way.

I'm even thinking of picking up his other book Complications. Overall, recommended, even if it isn't your type of book (which this most certainly wasn't).

I finished Naomi Novik's His Majesty's Dragon and rated it four stars. It reminded me of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell in that it was about Britain during the Napoleonic Wars, except with a magical element and it was written in a pseudo-historical style. I enjoyed the writing a lot. The battle scenes bored me though, but extensive battle scenes bore me in general.

I read Palace Circle by Rebecca Dean and rated it a 2. I wanted to love it, but it didn't lead up to the hype that it recieved, at least in my opinion. Pretty weak plot threads, and bad character development. Pretty bummed.

>37,
I ended up giving it a 3. After I requested it from LTER I read some pretty poor reviews for it so wasn't expecting much. With that attitude I thought it was pretty representative of the genre (fluffy historical fiction) and wasn't all that bad - although it certainly wasn't anything special.

The last book I read was Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire. I rated it a one star because I must confess that I can't stand the author's writing. I want to. I love the idea of his books. I tried Wicked - I loved the Broadway production - but not the book. They are hard to follow and the pace of his novels drive me insane because they so often feel overdrawn. I rarely like his characters, even the ones I'm supposed to sympathize with.

I know a lot of people will disagree and that Maguire has a lot of die hard fans, but alas, I cannot be one of them no matter how hard I try.

The last book I finished is The Playboy of the Western World by J.M.Synge. This is the best book I've read so far this year and I've rated it 4 stars (which means nearly perfect in my rating system).

My review,

http://www.librarything.com/work/150060/...

Or on my 50 Book Challenge thread,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/72408

Message edited by its author, Nov 8, 2009, 2:55pm.