shinyone returns for 2011

I am going to give this another try. I joined this group in 2009 and abandoned my thread for some reason in mid-November. I spent 2010 reading a lot, lurking a little, posting not at all. It looks like my final book count for 2010 will be 74.

Some favorites from 2010:

Space by James A. Michener
Black Hills by Dan Simmons
Youngblood Hawke by Herman Wouk
Ella Menno Pea by Mark Dunn
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire
Charlotte and Emily: a Novel of the Brontes by Jude Morgan

Happy New Year and Happy Reading!

I'll have to check out Charlotte and Emily. So what are you reading this year? Good luck!

So far I am reading The System of the World by Neal Stephenson. It is really long so it is going to take a while.

Charlotte and Emily was fantastic. I highly recommend it.

I FINALLY finished my first book of the year!!!!!

1. The System of the World by Neal Stephenson

I am now going to go find the shortest book in my house and read it next to balance things out!

2. Uncharted Territory by Connie Willis (149 pages!)

Hi Shiny - just about to start The Taste of Sorrow aka Charlotte and Emily: A Novel of the Brontes by Jude Morgan based on your recommendation - sounds right up my street :o)

Did you like the Connie Willis? I've got To Say Nothing of the Dog on the bookshelves but haven't gotten around to it. Have you read that one?

biblio - I wonder why the alternate titles for Charlotte and Emily? It's really about the whole Bronte family, not just Charlotte and Emily, anyway. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

talkingcelery - I have read most of Connie Willis's books. To Say Nothing of the Dog is more light-hearted than some of her others (like Doomsday Book, for example). It is pretty funny actually. It was the first Connie Willis I read, and it made me want to read all her other books; that's a pretty good recommendation I think.

Don't know shiny - must be a US/UK thing, but I never really understand why these things happen. I suppose they base it on research in that particular country, but to be honest, if I'd seen this in the library, I wouldn't have picked it up because neither the cover nor the title appeal to me. I'm glad you recommended it though because I'm really enjoying it :o)

< jeez how long was it? lol, longest book i read was like......... 900 pages.... lol

Yep, that's an excellent recommendation! It's moving up the list...

I always like it when my fellow 50 book challengers put up some thoughts about the books they read, rather than just listing them. So I got off my lazy butt and wrote some of my thoughts:

The System of the World
Neal Stephenson
1/15/11

I spent 2 weeks slogging through nearly 900 pages of this doorstop, and I couldn’t summarize it if my life depended on it. Kind of makes you wonder what the whole point of reading it was, doesn’t it?

I attribute the overwhelming sleepiness that plagued me while reading it to the cold I was fighting, and not to the book itself. Whatever the reason, I nodded off several times while reading this massive tome, which obviously did not enhance my comprehension. Still, I found most of the book to be enjoyable. Having already read the first two volumes of The Baroque Cycle as well as Cryptonomicon, I knew exactly what I was getting into. Parts of it were very slow, there were long digressions, philosophical conversations, etc., and then suddenly the plot would pick up with some action. I don’t mind Stephenson’s rambling style and realize that with him, you have to enjoy the ride because the destination really isn’t the point.

This book, and its companion volumes, stay on my shelf for now. Glutton for punishment that I am, I expect to give the whole series a reread someday. 3 ½ stars

Uncharted Territory
Connie Willis
1/15/11

I celebrated my liberation from TSotW by finding the shortest book on my shelves to follow it up with (thereby helping my pitiful count for the year thus far).

There’s not much to UT. As usual, Willis pokes fun at bureaucratic nonsense and throws in some subtle romance. In this case, the bureaucratic nonsense came from a native of another planet where a couple of human surveyors attempt to explore and map the uncharted territories while constantly being fined for leaving footprints, damaging or even speaking disparagingly of indiginous plants and animals, kicking up dust, etc., etc. The romance was so subtle as to be almost non-existent in this one, though. I didn’t really feel the chemistry between the two characters, but in retrospect they acted like an old married couple, so maybe that was part of the point.

It was a pleasant enough story to while away a couple of hours, not Willis’s best, but still a fun read. This one also stays on the shelf. 3 ½ stars

3. Mirror, Mirror by Gregory Maguire

Not a great book, but not bad. I find Gregory Maguire to be kind of hit or miss.

4. Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer

I really wanted to like this book. I've heard so many good things about Georgette Heyer. Maybe this just isn't one of her better books. I'll give her another chance. I just really didn't like the "hero" of this book. He was a complete jerk!!

5. Dublin: Foundation by Edward Rutherfurd

I have enjoyed all of Rutherfurds books, and this was no exception. It was good to sink into a nice fat, satisfying, historical fiction book.

Can't get any touchstones to work for some reason...

6. Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

7. The Heretic's Wife by Brenda Rickman Vantrease

Excellent historical fiction (despite the fact that the cover makes it look like a romance novel!) about a woman who is involved, first with her brother and then with her "heretic" husband, in attempts to smuggle English translations of the Bible into England during the reign of Henry VIII. I knew Henry as the king who broke with the Roman Catholic Church; I did not know that prior to that he was known to Catholics as "Defender of the Faith" and that Protestants were so persecuted in England. Fascinating stuff.

8. Creation and Fall and Temptation by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Ah, Bonhoeffer. I had started this book months ago and stalled, because Bonhoeffer is just plain hard to read. After finishing The Heretic's Wife, I was in the mood for some Lutheran theology.

This is one of the books I "inherited" from my Dad's collection after he passed away. He read it in seminary, I'm sure. He had underlined quite heavily in Temptation and not at all in Creation and Fall. I found Temptation to be much easier to understand than Creation and Fall.

9. Eat This, Not That by David Zinczenko

10. The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold

11. What-the-Dickens by Gregory Maguire

Seriously, why do keep reading his books?

12. Tuck by Stephen R. Lawhead

The conclusion to Lawhead's very enjoyable Robin Hood trilogy.

13. Poison by Sara Poole

14. Anthem by Ayn Rand

Somewhat interesting, yet sometimes unintentionally hilarious. I'm glad it was free.

15. Romancing Miss Bronte by Juliet Gael

16. Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women by Harriet Reisen (audiobook)

17. Villette by Charlotte Bronte

I read this book several years ago and didn't really care for it. Since I've been on a bit of a Bronte kick recently, I decided to give it another try, and I'm so glad I did. This time through, I loved it.

18. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

My favorite book. I have read it every year since I discovered it in 2006.

19. Exile by Aaron Allston (Star Wars: Legacy of the Force book 4)

Yes, it was time for a fluff break.

20. The Host by Stephanie Meyer

Well, it was better than Twilight. I actually finished this one. High praise, I know.

21. Gilead by Marilynn Robinson

A little gem of a book, deserving of rereads.

22. Sacrifice by Karen Traviss

Yep, more Star Wars

23. Soul Identity by Dennis Batchelder

Some free Kindle books are free for a reason.