Fourpawz2 trying for 60

Finally getting around to this challenge. Here are the books I've read this year:

1. Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb
2. The Gunseller by Hugh Laurie - Hugh Laurie is way too talented by half
3. Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey
4. Sudden Sea by R.A. Scotti
5. A Vision of Light by Judith Merkle Riley
6. William the Conqueror by David Bates
7. The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey
8. Away by Jane Urquhart
9. A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains by Isabella Bird
10. Growing Up With the Country by Elliott West
11. The Devil and the Dark Island by Audrey McClellan - this was not good
12. The Pride of Lions by Marsha Canham - this was really, really, REALLY not good
13. Giants in the Earth by O.E. Rolvaag - read this in high school, but I think I was too young to appreciate it. This time around it lived up to my expectations.
14. Ghost Fox by James Houston
15. Nectar From a Stone by Jane Guill
16. A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle - this made me very hungry for French food.
17. Copperhead by Bernard Cornwell
18. The Friendly Persuastion by Jessamyn West
19. Belle Ruin by Martha Grimes - I thought that Martha Grimes wrote mysteries. This did not seem to be a mystery.
20. The Memory Keepers Daughter by Kim Edwards - This was what I like to call a Knife-In-The-Eye book. I disliked it so from almost the very first page. Still, I was not willing to let it go unfinished so I read it in two days in order to be done with the pain. It never got any better.
21. Flowers From the Storm by Laura Kinsale - This one seemed a little Regency-like, but it is surely the very best of this type that I have ever read.
22. Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine Tey
23. Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende - an o.k. book. A little disappointing
24. Fiend by Harold Schechter
25. Richmond After the War by Michael B. Chesson
26. Grace in Thine Eyes by Liz Curtis Higgs
27. The Fool's Tale by Nicole Galland
28. Jennie About to Be by Elisabeth Ogilvie
29. Lord of Sunset by Parke Godwin - This guy is getting to be my favorite historical fiction writer - right after Bernard Cornwell who is a god.
30. Witchfinders by Malcolm Gaskill
31. In Pursuit of the Green Lion by Judith Merkle Riley - Thought that this one was even a little bit better than A Vision of Light.
32. Dark Water's Embrace by Stephen Leigh
33. The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton
34. Katherine by Anya Seton
35. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon - This was a re-read - probably about number 8 for this one - but I couldn't help myself
36. The Silver Bough by Lisa Tuttle
37. My Antonia by Willa Cather

Did not include The Historian which was so disappointing and draggy that I could not make myself read the last hundred or so pages, nor have I included 1812: The Rivers of War which hasn't caught fire for me even after 108 pages. Maybe this isn't my kind of book.

No. 38 Timeline by Michael Crichton - Liked the idea of this book before I read it - liked his execution of it not so well. Overall it was o.k., but it seems as though it could have been a better book in someone else's hands. He knows his facts (lots of them), but the characters were very one dimensional.

No. 39 - The Observations by Jane Harris - pretty much just o.k for me

No. 40 - Shadows and Strongholds by Elizabeth Chadwick. Had no expectations for this book (I've been disappointed so many times by books that did not, in my estimation, live up to the reviews) and totally loved it.

No. 41 - Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold. Almost gave up on this one, but at page 92 it took off.

You're pretty much almost there. You seem like a fast reader too!

Pretty fast - most of the time. I think I'm trying to jam in as many as I can before the new Bernard Cornwell gets here. I really want to take my time with that one and savor every page.
Just finished No. 42 (yesterday) - Jennie Glenroy by Elisabeth Ogilvie - The 3rd book in the Jennie series, it seemed, to me, to be the weakest of the three; Ogilvie punted at the end when she might have done something very good. Another thing - I love animals, but she was way, way over the top yakking about what each and every animal was doing every hour of every day. It was only o.k.

Coming in at No. 43 (but it should have come in at 40, only I forgot to list it) is The World of Jennie G, Book 2 of the Jennie Trilogy by Elisabeth Ogilvie. Better than the third one and not as good as the first one in the series.

No. 44 - The Wolf Hunt by Gillian Bradshaw - liked it a lot

No. 45 - Genghis by Conn Iggulden. Due to all the negative buzz about Iggulden's playing fast and loose with history, I have avoided his Emperor series like the plague, but for this one - an era and place about which I know absolutely zip - I took the plunge. It wasn't bad. Genghis was a brutal character - with cause - and Iggulden did not try to make him a 21st century man by giving him a soft chewy center. This dude was tough. This book wasn't the greatest of its kind, but I intend to read the next in the series.

No. 46 Hearts West by Chris Enss - very short

No. 47 - The Falcons of Montabard by Elizabeth Chadwick - Good. Perhaps not quite as good as Shadows and Strongholds, but generally pretty damn good.

No. 48 - A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin - re-read number 3 (I think). Have to get my George Martin fix every so often while I wait as patiently as possible for Book 5 in the series.

No. 49 - The King's Coat by Dewey Lambdin - Whipped through this one at top speed because it was really, really good.

That's a great list! You are the only other person I've seen who has read Ghost Fox, one of my favorites from childhood.

I've just discovered Bernard Cornwell He is wonderful.

No. 50 - Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade by Diana Gabaldon - Liked it, but somehow I still don't know how to take the Lord John books. I guess the thing is that I don't LOVE them.
No. 51 - Faerie Tale by Raymond E. Feist - not bad, not great

Oklahoma, enjoy Cornwell - he's my favorite of all. If you are reading the Sharpe series, read them chronologically up to Waterloo, then read the prequel books set in India and then, unless you have developed a major Cornwell addiction, don't read the rest of them. But do read all of his others.

No. 52 - The Serpent Garden by Judith Merkle Riley - Very clever - liked it a lot.

No. 53 - Buffalo Woman by Dorothy M. Johnson - A quick read told in a very realistic manner

No. 54 - The Cattle Kings by Lewis Atherton. some portions were very dry and some were very interesting.

No. 55 - Sex With The Queen by Eleanor Herman - Had a trashy kind of feel to it all the way through. I also had trouble believing some of what Herman was saying as it flew directly in the face of the biographies of some of the people she included here that I have read before. But it was an easy read even if it did leave me with the feeling that I'd spent a few days standing in front of the gossip rags at the supermarket checkout.

No. 56 - Manxmouse by Paul Gallico - Definitely a children's book and not awfully great. It seemed very sixtyish somehow and hence was completely dated. It was not timeless as I think all children's books should be and I will probably never read it again.

DONE!!! Reached my goal with the reading of the following:
No. 57 - Sword Song by Bernard Cornwell - Excellent as ever. Don't want this series to end - ever.
No. 58 - Kemp The Road To Crecy by Daniel Hall - Only o.k. for me.
No. 59 - The Marsh King's Daughter - by Elizabeth Chadwick - This was very, very good. It is a shame that this woman's books have not been published in this country.
No. 60 - Tales and Traditions of Scottish Castles by Nigel Tranter - Full of interesting little anecdotes about various castles and Scots that left me wanting to know more.
Now I want to see how many more I can read in what remains of the year. How many for next year - 75? 100?

No. 61 - Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay - Was a little disappointed in this. At first it seemed to take off, but then it slowed down and got to be a little plodding and ponderous. Cannot believe that this guy was chosen to do anything in connection with Tolkein. It isn't that he's such an awful writer - he isn't. In fact there were times when I really liked what he was doing. But he ain't no Tolkein.

No. 62 - The Good Men: a Novel of Heresy by Charmaine Craig - The best book I've read this year - so far. The ending might not please some, but in my opinion, it was just as it should have been. If I were the sobbin' dobbin' type I would have cried buckets but not because it was a weeper. It was just very real.

No. 63 - The Coming of the Horseclans by Robert Adams. The best part of this was the title. Otherwise this was just dreadful. All of it. The writing, the characters, the plot. Am not quite sure if it was meant to be scifi or fantasy. Whichever it is, it is not good. The dialogue was hideous. The only faintly interesting part - for about ten minutes - were the telepathic cats and horses, but that got old very, very quickly. I did not like any of the humans in this and have no desire, ever, to read anything of this guy's again.

No. 64 - Redwall by Brian Jacques - This is timeless. I loved every bit of it. Some might think of it as a children's book, but it is so well done that it is eminently entertaining for the adult (well, at least for this adult). Looking forward to reading the whole series.

No. 65 - Middlemarch by George Eliot - Took forever for me to finish this. I'd like to blame the three weeks it took me to finish it on the season, but that wouldn't be true. Really liked it and would read it again. It was very dense and unexpectedly funny in spots.

No. 66 - The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons - Finished this two days before Christmas. It wasn't stellar writing, but the story was very good - very emotional. As a side effect, it made me want to hoard food.
No. 67 - Zulu Dawn - by Cy Endfield - The movie "Zulu" has always been one of my favorites, even after all these years and when I found this book I had to read it. Pretty good in general, filling in what happened right before the big battle at Rorke's Drift for me.
No. 68 - The Scapegoat by Daphne duMaurier - A re-read from many years ago. I found it just as good this time as I did originally, finishing it on the 30th.

On to 2008.