Well, this looks interesting enough. As I have started a new book today I shall join this challenge.
Start Date - April 26 2009

37/50

Reading List 2009

Anne Rice - Lasher
Anne Rice - Taltos
Anne Rice - Cry to Heaven
Anne Rice - The Mummy
Anne Rice - Servant of the Bones
Anne Rice - Violin
Anne Rice - The Master of Rampling Gate
Anne Rice - Claiming of Sleeping Beauty
Jeff Noon - Vurt (08/04/09)
Jeff Noon - Pollen (11/24/09)
Jeff Noon - Automated Alice
Jeff Noon - Nymphomation (09/28/09)
Clive Barker - Hellbound Heart
V.C. Andrews - Flowers in the Attic (04/28/09)
V.C. Andrews - Seeds of Yesterday (05/24/09)
V.C. Andrews - Garden of Shadows (05/27/09)
V.C. Andrews - My Sweet Audrina (06/28/09)
V.C. Andrews - Tarnished Gold (07/27/09)
V.C. Andrews - Ruby (07/02/09)
V.C. Andrews - Fallen Hearts (07/29/09)
Tom Clancy - The Sum of All Fears(06/21/09)
Tom Clancy - Clear and Present Danger(07/26/09)
H.P. Lovecraft - The Quest of the Unknown Kadath
H.P. Lovecraft - Letters to Alfred Galpin
H.P. Lovecraft - The Horror in the Museum
John Grisham - The Associate
John Grisham - The Partner(08/11/09)
John Grisham - The Last Juror
John Grisham - The Rainmaker(08/12/09)
John Grisham - Innocent Man
John Grisham - The Summons
John Grisham - The Street Lawyer
Christopher Hitchens - God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (07/14/09)
Simon Clark - Death's Dominion(06/27/09)
Janet Dawson - Till the Old Men Die(05/03/09)
Robert Ludlum - The Bourne Identity(05/02/09)
Robert Ludlum - The Bancroft Strategy(10/30/09)
Michael Crichton - State of Fear(05/21/09)
Kenneth J. Harvey - Inside(06/23/09)
Eliane Corbeil Roe - Circle of Light(06/24/09)
Amy Chua - Day of Empire(07/06/09)
Noam Chomsky - Hegemony or Survival(07/12/09)
Dinah McCall - Bloodlines(07/31/09)
Steve Martini - Critical Mass(08/03/09)
Gorge Orwell - 1984(08/14/09)
Karen Rose - Die for Me(08/23/09)
Sam Harris - The End of Faith(08/30/09)
Peter Hoeg - Smilla's Sense of Snow(08/11/09)
John Sandford - Easy Prey(09/06/09)
John Sandford - Chosen Prey(09/24/09)
Philip Zimbardo - The Lucifer Effect(09/20/09)
Dan Gardner - Risk(10/06/09)
Jasmine Cresswell - Final Justice(10/11/09)
Simon Pearson - A Brief History Of the End of the World(10/18/09)
Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner - Freakonomics(11/07/09)

Note- List is subject to change.

Message edited by its author, Nov 24, 2009, 11:12pm.

What a great list you already have! :) Good luck with your challenge.

Hi, exitthegray!
You do have lots of great books on your list. Good luck with your challenge. I look forward to seeing what you are reading. :)
--BJ

Thank you for the well wishes.

Okay, so after reading Petals on the Wind and If There be Thorns the second and third books of the Dollanganger series I have decided to read the first -Flowers in the Attic.

As always, V. C. Andrews lived up to my expectations. This book was a great read and hard to put down. The children's decent into "insanity" for lack of a better word was quite interesting to read and described very well throughout the whole book. Also, how the mother distances herself from her children, the ending could be possibly be predicted and even foreshadowed though I was 100 percent convinced against the "obvious" ending. All in all, a lovely novel.

Message edited by its author, Jul 31, 2009, 8:38pm.

Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum summed up in two words. Simply Amazing! Personally, I'm not one for action novels as those I've read in the past have never captured the essence of fear and worry within the action. This book left me hanging at every page, everything was described perfectly down to the t without being long and dreary. I especially enjoyed the references to real events which have happened in the past such as issues with the FLQ. From begging to end, there were no dull spots. I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys action.

I'm looking forward to the other books in the series, and perhaps watching the movie in hopes that they did not butcher the book.

I also totally loved that book. Of the trilogy, I thought the first one was the best. But I did like them all. I thought the book was better than the movie. There are two movies of that book. Another great read from back in the day was The Day of the Jackal. Also, two movies of that one. Have a great day!
--BJ

RE: billiejean
I watched one of the movies of Bourne Identity yesterday, the one made in 2002. Horrible. Simply horrible representation of the book. Perhaps I shall check out the earlier one from 1988. I'm hoping that one is better. I just looked up some information on The Day of the Jackal and it looks really good, I'll be sure to add it to my future reading list, thank you.

Till the Old Men Die by Janet Dawson. I'm slightly torn on this book, it's very realistic and moves along slightly slower than the mystery books I usually read. The story line was quite simple(which isn't a bad thing) but I feel it wasn't played out a well as it could have been. To elaborate on the two basic reasons why I liked this book and disliked this book; firstly, dislike, which I already pointed out was the story line and the reader didn't really figure out how everything connected until the last 50 pages or so therefore, it was slightly confusing. Secondly, liked, as I mentioned the realism of the characters was played out amazingly. I could imagine the peoples reactions as similar to this book verses other books where the reactions are farfetched and would never happen in a million years.

The Bourne trilogy is fantastic! I wasn't a big fan of the second book (The Bourne Supremacy), but the series is still great. I think the movies have to be treated as a totally separate entity, they really don't follow the book at all. They take the basic premise and then run with it in a very different direction, but they stand up very well on their own. Funnily enough, the second movie is my favourite.

RE: spacepotatoes
Watching the first movie I can see how the movies would be treated as something completely different. I'm always told to watch the movie prior to reading the book as then I would be able to judge the movie for it's own artistic value verses comparing it to the book; however I've found that doesn't work too well. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series and viewing the rest of the movies.

My reading has been very slow lately as a result of a large amount of school work.

Today, I have finished Michael Crichton's State of Fear and I must say, wow, simply wow. My views have changed completely after reading this book. I think it might be one of my favorites this year. Crichton's thesis was portrayed beautifully throughout this book. The charts and so on are amazing additions. At first, I found this book was horrible confusing as it tends to jump around but once I got into it, it was hard to put down. I also must point out the Appendix at the end of the book was an amazing way to sum everything together.
I would definitely recommend this book to everyone!

Message edited by its author, May 21, 2009, 8:50pm.

Seeds of Yesterday by V.C. Andrews, another book which by far has blown my breath away. One word, extraordinary! The transitions which the characters make throughout the novel is amazingly portrayed thus leading up to a very surprising not to mention heartbreaking conclusion. For those of you who have read the series I find it's safe to assume that their past came back to haunt them, through themselves. One thing that I'm still slightly confused about is who is the mysterious Uncle Joel and what was his evil plan.

Today I have completed V.C Andews's Garden of Shadows. As always, a captivating novel and very interesting character study. It was slightly odd to see how the "grandmother's" behavior started and how it slightly changed throughout the novel. It was also interesting to see it from her point of view as the other novels are told from Cathy's point of view. I'm looking forward to reading more novels from V.C. Andrews.

The Sum of All Fears by Tom Clancy. Never in my life have I wanted to jump into a book and slap someone more than now. This book was interesting, captivating, a great read, and not to mention beastly(900 pages). It took me a while to read because of school and so on but nonetheless, it was amazing. The characters were really easy to connect to in this book and I think that made it all the better.
I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in war or war related action.

Inside by Kenneth J. Harvey. Interesting, interesting indeed. The writing style was quite unique and drove me mad at some points but it was intriguing at most points. The protagonist's journey throughout the whole story was a little saddening, and the ending made me want to cry. Overall, great read.

Circle of Light by Eliane Corbeil Roe. This was generally not the type of book I would enjoy reading and with that said, I would often put down the book; however, this book was quite interesting. I found that I was left with many questions but that was easily solved after analyzing the book more thoroughly.

Simon Clark has done it again with Death's Dominion. This book was done very well. The plot was decent and played out great but what I specifically liked was the questions that came to mind when reading certain parts. It wasn't as scary as I would have liked but good nonetheless.

Yesterday I completed My Sweet Audrina by V.C. Andrews. As always, Andrews lived up to my expectations. This book was very interesting and it left me guessing throughout the whole thing. There were a few things which weren't explainable until the end and I enjoyed that as it kept me reading. One thing that I didn't like was the ending, I would have preferred if the book went on a little more so the reader would have known what would happen to Arden and Audrina.

Today I completed Ruby by V. C. Andrews which was a fantastic read. I've completed her Dollanganger Series a while back and now I'm starting this series. As always, Andrews lived up to my expectations. Prior to reading this novel I was under the impression that the men in Andrews' stories were always evil hateful and ultimately lead to the downfall of the protagonist(s); however in this novel there were men that played both a negative and positive role but the most hateful role (in my opinion) was that of Daphne -a female- therefore my theory is out the proverbial window. I look forward to the rest of the books in this series, sadly I only have the last book in my possession so I'm going to be reading them out of order.

Woo, 13th book completed. I borrowed Day of Empire by Amy Chua off a friend of mine a few days ago. This was a very very interesting book and I enjoyed how the author didn't use selection bias in order to prove her thesis. I think the things I've read about the Achaemenid and British empires are some of the most interesting things I've read in a while. Oh, and just to say this book was organized amazingly, I'm a bit anal when it comes to organization and I approve haha ^_^.

14th book completed (I'm thinking I should have a celebration at 15 =) Hegemony or Survival by Noam Chomsky is another book which I borrowed off a friend of mine. Another super interesting book which brought up points I've never really thought about in regards to the U.S. so that's always a great thing. One thing I would have preferred is to know more about how the other political leaders reacted to America's decisions and so on. The writing style was.. interesting.. it reminded me of a very long essay. Overall, it was a very good book.

15th book, celebrating with a piece of cake haha. Anyways, the last book I borrowed off a friend God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens. Amazing, amazing, and one more time for good measure, amazing book! I found that the author's research, which went into this book was phenomenal. Detailed yet to the point and oddly, very, very funny (I constantly found myself laughing). I also really enjoyed the fact that the author put some of his personal experiences into the book. I'd recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in religion and is open to other ideas :).

So today I completed Clear and Present Danger by Tom Clancy. Once again, Clancy's books are simply amazing. I love his writing style, all the different sections representing different scenarios which eventually tie together. I found the plot in this novel something that we can relate to these days. Anyways, I've found that Clancy always ends his novels astoundingly and this book was no exception.

Tarnished Gold by V. C. Andrews. Once again, Andrews (well the person who continued her novels after her death) has written a simple amazing book! This is the first book in the Laundry series, I have read the second one already and I can't decided which one is better. Andrews is known for literally throwing people in the attic and that carried on in this story; that one aspect is my only complaint as I feel that the attic bit is overplayed. All in all, excellent read!

Fallen Hearts by V. C. Andrews. The amazing books continue as well with the complaints of repetitiveness. I have to admit, I can't get enough of Andrews' books but they have become very very repetitive. Selling children, cheating on spouses, and money can buy happiness; these (as well as other) themes are very prominent in many, if not all of her books. As repetitive as her books are, the endings always seem to surprise me and as always, the last few pages tie all unfinished business together in a perfect way.

On to book 19!

Bloodlines by Dinah McCall. Starting this book I was in the mindset of "damn I'm sick of mystery novels!"; however as this book proceeded I kept on getting pulled in farther and farther. I really connected with the emotions of the characters and when looking at the picture of the author I was thinking how could someone who looks so dignified write a book where the speakers language is so common. All in all, it was simply amazing. And, it wasn't predictable! When the ending came around I was so shocked, I really didn't want it to end.

Critical Mass by Steve Martini. The first thing that came to mind reading this book was that Martini has a similar writing style per se to Tom Clancy; no problem there, I love Clancy's novels. I found that despite the different place different scenario type of writing, the book wasn't confusing at all. It was a very enjoyable book, interesting from beginning to end. The ending was really surprising for me, so that's also a good thing. One thing I didn't really like were the "dead ends" and there was one place that really stuck out to me, which is when the navy SEAL died - why was he in the building, how did he know Joselyn was there, and so on. Other than that point, fabulous. I'll definitely be checking out more books by this author.

Book 21, Vurt by Jeff Noon. I've been looking for this book for ages! And finally, I found it. After reading it, I've come to the conclusion that it was well worth the wait. This book was simply amazing. This is my first time reading anything "Cyberpunk" or Science Fiction and at first I was very confused, I had no clue what they were talking about (with the weird lingo); however I quickly found out that everything gets explain eventually and I really don't mind that. Captivating, perfect description this book. It was simple yet the hidden meanings really made it worth reading. A lot of things said made me think, especially this one verse
"Awake, you know that dreams exist.
Inside a dream you think the dream is reality.
Inside a dream you have no real knowledge of the waking world."
Anyways, read it if you can handle being lost, then found...

Multiple post! Books 22-25! I had a week off work and did some intense reading; however, I still have two more days off but I ran out of books haha. Okay, so in the order read:
1. Smila's Sense of Snow by Peter Høeg. This book as a whole was devistating! But, if you were to break the book up into less complex parts it was pretty good. Firstly, I found that the principle plot of trying to find a proof that the little boy's death wasn't accidental is a good start, however it kind of strayed off and wasn't mentioned enough throughout the book. I loved the scenarios Smila got herself into and the action was potrayed beautifully. I was a little dissapointed at the end, which wasn't a result of the writing but of what happened.

2. The partner by John Grisham. I think John Grisham is starting to become one of my favorite authors. His writing is simply amazing and this book is no different. Even though the story was pretty much about one thing that could have been explained in a few pages he kept it very, very interesting. I think I've found a pattern in Grisham's books; the antagonist wins slightly in the end. The ending of this book really drove me off the wall, the move that Patrick's(I think I have his name right) female acomplis made at the end of the book was an awful move (I wanted to jump into the book and slap the lady).

3. The Rainmaker by John Grisham. Hands down, my favorite book by Grisham. I connected with the people in this book so easily, they felt like family. The writing, senarios, everything was just fantastic. One thing I was slightly upset about, you don't really find out what happens to Ms. Birdie and she was one of my favorite characters.

4. Book 25, half way through! 1984 by George Orwell. Orwell is a great writer, I could honestly end this little review here. The book was amazing, in some parts it reminded me of Vurt(listed above), especially when the protagonist was getting tortured. Even though this story is fiction, I love to read how many of the things mentioned can relate to the past or the present; perhaps even the future.

# 26. I'm really starting to get sick of mystery books, haha. Die for me by Karen Rose. This book took me forever to read! Not because the writing but because I sadly had no time. I sat down today and decided I was going to read it. Amazing book! The ending was quite shocking, I didn't expect what happened and that's always a plus. The writing style is fantastic, simple yet addicting. The characters where easy to connect with and left me feeling sad and awestruck often. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys mystery and isn't squeamish (the deaths are quite horrific).

Message edited by its author, Aug 23, 2009, 11:21pm.

# 27. The End of Faith by Sam Harris. Before I pull this book apart, I'll start with something positive. This was overall a great read, the points with Harris brought up were perfect to support his thesis. Now for the negative, I found that Harris strayed too much from his main points and he should have brought them up more often, that's my only complaint really. Oh, well other than the 30 pages or so of endnotes, haha.

# 28. Easy Prey by John Sandford. I'm pretty torn on this book. Firstly, the writing was very simple and a tad predictable which made this book a very quick read; that, however is not necessarily a bad thing. The story line itself was pretty decent, and I found the ending quite unexpected. One thing which I wasn't a fan of is that everything was pretty much tied together in the last 2 pages, I enjoy a more prolonged ending. Like the ending of the book, the action was very fast paced, which is always good.

# 29. Philip G. Zimbardo's The Lucifer Effect. This is one of my favorite books - therefore this is a re-read. I'll sum it up quickly as I could go on and on. Firstly, I love the first half of the book which is based on the Stanford Prison experiment as that's the main reason why I bought the book, it's a very interesting experiment. One thing I found went slowly was the comparison of the inhuman acts going on at the Abu Gharib prison, at first it was enjoyable but I didn't enjoy when it kept on going on. I love how Zimbardo uses many experiments to support his hypothesis that evil depends on the situation. Anywho, great book in general.

# 30. Woo, 20 books left! Okay, so I've read Chosen Prey by John Sandford. Sandford once again offered a quick read; however, this book was less predictable than Easy Prey. I think I have gotten use to his writing styles - things are prolonged then summed up in the last few pages. I was quite content with the action in the book. The ending was also a tad surprising. All and all, a pretty good book.

# 31.So, today I completed Nymphomation (which for the likes of me I couldn't figure out the meaning of, until I got the obvious explanation in the book) by Jeff Noon. Noon blew me away with another fantastic book. This twisted Manchester life, I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. One thing I really found interesting was the holes for the beggars or "tramps" but I was astonished by the amounts of them. Noon shows that there's dangers to gambling, even when you're lucky. Also, if you try and beat the system the system may just beat you. At least that's my take on everything, I always find interpretations of cyberpunk novels tend to vary. Anyways, I look forward to reading more of Noon's books.

Message edited by its author, Sep 28, 2009, 6:50pm.

You've really read some great books this year already. Which one did you like the most so far? :)

That's a really tough one! I'd love to split it up into favorites by genre but I'll just settle for non-fiction and fiction.
My favorite non-fiction book thus far would have to be Day of Empire, it was such an interesting read I'd definitely read it again.
And my favorite fiction book would be Vurt. It was such a weird read but I loved everything it was about and how the author portrayed everything.

I just looked at the book descriptions of those two and they both seem great! :) Adding them to my wishlist now, hope my library has them.

I wish you the best in finding them at your library!
And whenever you end up reading them, keep me updated as to if you enjoyed them.

#32. Risk by Dan Gardner. This was a very interesting read, it had a lot of good facts and it was interesting to see how the general human population reacts to fear. My one complaint is that it wasn't very organized, the chapters were organized in types of risk (through the media, chemicals, terrorism) and so on and as a result, the same examples could be used in multiple chapters, therefore a tad confusing.

#33. Final Justice by Jasmine Cresswell. This book wasn't too bad but in turn it wouldn't be one of my favorite books. The plot line was pretty good at points and the ending unfolded well; however I found it a little repetitive. The writing level was pretty simple so I skimmed through this book pretty fastly.

#34. A brief History Of the End of the World by Simon Pearson. This is a fabulous book, it answered many questions I had regarding why religious groups act the way they do. This book was great for finding out about Armageddon in the past but only had a brief part about Armageddon of the future; it wasn't exactly what I expected but it was still great.

Message edited by its author, Oct 18, 2009, 9:12pm.

#35. The Bancroft Strategy by Robert Ludlum. I'll keep this short as I'm not feeling the best at the moment.
Great book, the ending was a complete surprise but a good one =. Ludlum is one of the only action writers I enjoy as his books are never predictable.

The end.

#36. Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. Once again this will be sort as I'm still ill. Fantastic book if I do say so myself! The main reason why I decided to look it up was because it was one of the most in demand books, I'm glad I did. The authors bring up very interesting points and have a lot of interesting information to back up their opinions. I'm definitely looking forward to getting Superfreakonomics.

I feel like an LT noob. I haven't been on here in forever due to school and my new job (woo).
Okay so, I just finished reading Pollen by Jeff Noon. Fantastic, as always. A little note, I found the ending rushed but not rushed when you actually consider the book as a whole. As always, Noon throws a bunch of interesting concepts out there for those who aren't afraid to read between the lines. I'm looking forward to more books by Noon. =