Whitewavedarling Counts Through 2018... and reviews along the way!

Well, I finally got around to looking through all the books I read in 2017. The count came up to 114, and it was a great year. I've sifted through reviews/memories, and want to offer some recommendations (by genre) below, just in case you're interested... there are a lot, but I couldn't restrict myself more, so I hope you'll take a glance! Full reviews written for everything if you look :)

Oh, and to let you know... for all of the books I'm recommending, they were 4.5 or 5 star reads, for me, and they're all books where I'm now a fan enough of the author that they're on my list to keep looking up, or I've already bought more of their books to add to my TBR! Good writing is a must for me, so if they're recommended below, I consider them worth the time!

ROMANCE:
How to Tame a Beast in Seven Days by Kerrelyn Sparks (fun, light, humorous, paranormal fantasy)
Lick & Play by Kylie Scott (contemporary romance--fun and easy reads with great characters)
Darkest Night by Gena Showalter (paranormal romance, maybe too dark for some readers)
Forgotten Sins by Rebecca Zanetti (action-packed romantic suspense)

SUSPENSE:
Last Words by Michael Koryta (a newly discovered favorite author now)
Past Crimes by Glen Erik Hamilton (readers of Jack Reacher books will love this; Hamilton's better than the Reacher books I've read, though)
8th Circle by Sarah Cain

SPECULATIVE FICTION:
What I Tell You in the Dark by John Samuel (I can't tell you how much I love this speculative literary piece about a well-meaning angel who screws up)
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke (MG fantasy)
Twentieth Century Ghosts by Joe Hill (Spec/horror short stories)
Inflictions by John McIlveen (horror stories, not for the faint of heart)
Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier (epic fantasy, maybe too dark/involve trigger warnings for some readers)
Flight of the Silvers by Daniel Price (sci-fi/suspense--I love this book so much. Sequel on soon-to-be-read TBR stack...)
Suicide Forest by Jeremy Bates (horror--only for real fans of horror)

LITERARY/GENERAL FICTION:
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis by Jose Saramago
Things We Lost in the Dark by Mariana Enrique (short stories, maybe too darkly themed for some readers)

HISTORICAL FICTION:
Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly
Cane River by Lalita Tademy

NONFICTION:
Base Nation: How US Military Bases Overseas Harm America and the World by David Vine (a great, informative read--not at all so one-sided as the title suggests)
Unsportsmanlike Conduct: College Football and the Politics of Rape by Jessica Luther

My plans for January are ambitious, but right now I'm starting off with two I'm already really glad I picked up: Mischling by Affinity Konar and White Cat by Holly Black...

Welcome back! I always enjoy reading your reviews.

>3 jfetting:, Thanks :)

Hope you have a good year of reading!

>5 mabith:, Thanks, and you too!

And, the first book of the year was a great one.

#1: White Cat by Holly Black

This is one of those books that's nearly impossible to put down. Cassel's voice is such an engaging and driving force within the book that it's difficult to walk away from the story here, and the twists Black has played out in the book are put together masterfully, so that the book has its own sort of inertia from start to finish. I'm not sure what to call it--fantasy, urban fantasy, suspense, con story--but I loved it. And in the moments when my heart dropped with what the character was experiencing, and I was left staring at my book and feeling stupefied by the turn things had taken... well, all of that made it that much clearer that if this book draws you in and holds onto you, it's going to affect you. I feel shell-shocked enough by the twists in this one that I think I need a few weeks of recovery before leaping into the second one, but there's no doubt that I'll be seeking it out sooner than later.

Absolutely recommended for fans of strange suspense/mystery or urban fantasy, or well-written stories in general.

Another great one to be remembered, if wholly different and far more difficult to read...

#2: Mischling by Affinity Konar

Full Review:

Striking, and written with a such gorgeous language that the story almost takes on the qualities of a fairy tale, this book is still one which suggests, at only a glance at the blurb on its back, that it will be a difficult read--and, it is. The book follows 12-year-olds Stasha and Pearl, twin girls sent to Auschwitz in 1944 who are then pulled into the circle of the infamous Dr. Josef Mengele, to be a part of his experiments within the concentration camp.

Without doubt, that sentence alone is enough to send some readers running away from the book. Others, just as certainly, will read the book blurb's first few sentences and put the book down, or begin it... and leave it unfinished. Before I read it, I heard the beginning was difficult to get through, and knowing the subject, I prepared myself to dive into it--perhaps, since I read an awful lot of dark books (though normally not so based in fact/history as this one is), I managed the beginning alright, and in fact expected worse. And yet, still, there were times when the emotion, and the reminder that this was based in truth more than fiction, made it so that I had to put the book down, and I even thought once about not finishing, I admit -- but then I kept going, and was glad I had. But, in truth, it was the last part of the book that was most difficult for me personally to read, so that I have to mention it, as well. I suppose it comes down to whether you can more easily read about immediate pain or drawn-out grief, or torture or its aftermath, which will determine whether the beginning or the end of the book is more difficult. For me, the ending pieces of the book made the whole story all the more real, and painful almost tangible, albeit that this was a story peopled only occasionally by real characters, and I probably took twice as long to get through the final six chapters as I did the first 3/4ths of the book.

But, was it worth it? Yes.

Affinity Konar has pieced together a masterful and emotional view into not only characters placed in Mengele's so-called 'zoo', but into the beauty, love, emotion, and survival involved within such walls as these found at Auschwitz--but without, for even a moment, romanticizing or easing the view. She hasn't dwelled on the pain or the physicality of it, or even the grief, but she has not avoided any of that, either. It's not a story that's easily read, as beautifully written and carefully researched and fast-moving (yes, fast-moving) as it is. And as someone who writes, I can't imagine the pain involved in writing it and living with the characters she's peopled this work with. But at the same time, it is an important and powerful work of fiction. More than any non-battlefield WWII fiction I've read, this carries with it a weight of history and emotion that, for me, makes it all the more beautiful and terrible.

Not all readers will be able to read this. If I were still teaching contemporary literature, I imagine I'd tell my students they Should read it, but feel that I couldn't ask them to, and I imagine I'll tell others about this book and only recommend it carefully, or half-heartedly, knowing what a difficult read it is. I'm not sure I could give it as a gift or demand anyone, student or otherwise, go through it--it's that difficult a read because of the content, and the weight involved in the story. But, that said, it is also a book which is remarkable and careful, and utterly worth reading if you can.

And, the first romance of the year...

#3: Violent Delights: A Dark Billionaire Romance by Linnea May

As dark romances go, there's a lot to be said for this book. The premise works well, odd as it is, and the characters are written in such a way that they both come off as engaging and sympathetic (though, if you don't like dark romances, you probably won't agree with me on that one). The trick here, and what keeps it from being a really Great read, is that it's so beat-heavy, so focused on exact and specific scenes and moments, that everything else comes in a rush. So, for instance, plenty of time is spent on their first meeting and important interactions... but then we jump a few days, and both characters are at a different emotional point (which is believable, based on time and character and situation, but we didn't see them Get there). So, they go through another climactic/groundbreaking/emotional moment at this point in time... and then we skip some more time, to find them at a new emotional point... and so on and so forth.

In other words, we see all of the major moments/beats, but we don't see them getting from beat to beat. We can figure it out, sure, and it's believable... but it's also dangerously close to insta-love, and dangerously close to being Far Too predictable, and not really so much a cohesive novel with full storytelling as it is a collection of scenes (and, yes, they're important ones... but rarely are they scenes where we get to see/feel change, which is something of a problem).

If you let yourself get swept up in the moments that are there and in the characters, this is an enjoyable enough work--it just leaves something to be desired in terms of how much power or impact it can have, or even how much believability it offers (even within this genre) because of the jumpy style. I haven't decided yet whether I'd go back to the author for another book or not... what was Here was good; it just didn't feel so complete, and especially the ending felt incredibly rushed.

So, I suppose we'll see? For now, this goes in the stack of books that I'm not sorry to have read, but which won't really be memorable enough to take me back to the author for more or recommend it on.

4. Wolf Winter by Cecilia Ekback

Wolf Winter's back cover calls this a 'work of sophisticated suspense and beautiful prose', and I agree with the last part, but I have a feeling that a reader's reaction to this book will have far more to do with their interest in historical fiction than suspense. All told, Ekback's work is well put together, but it's also torn between many genres--historical fiction, suspense, family drama, and general fiction. I'd even go so far as to say that it's got overtones of paranormal fiction or horror. And with all of that being the case, at least for me, the story simply felt like it was being pulled in too many different directions. I'd get truly interested, only to then begin to feel like we were going back in a different direction. Especially in the middle of the book, I was often bored and just trodding along, wondering when we'd get to some form of a wrap-up regarding one of the many sub-plots--often, only to find that another one would be introduced.

I did really enjoy Ekback's writing here, but I also feel that too many plots were being pushed together. And, some things slid by the wayside as a result. First, the main character was oddly passive in the final wrap-up; it's true that she felt pushed to investigate things and get some answers...but so far as I can tell, she had little enough to do with the way things played out. Perhaps that's because the wrap-up of the main mystery that got things started was itself something of a disappointment, coming as it did. I won't give it a way here, but to say that it was random and offered by chance is a bit of an understatement.

And then, there are the men in the book. Aside from one priest and one villain, the men all bleed together as repeats of one another, with little to nothing to distinguish them or the way they're portrayed--beyond name, of course. With Ekback's focus being on a woman and her two daughters, it makes sense that their characterizations would get more time... but it also doesn't make sense to have the men in the book be little more than paper cut-outs who speak when it's convenient and have little to do with anything.

So, while I did enjoy the writing, I didn't actually enjoy this book. I'm not sure whether I'd pick up another work by Ekback at all; I certainly wouldn't pick up something marketed as a thriller/suspense, since that was the least of the genres really represented here, despite marketing, and despite the fact that the beginning and end of the book (the Very beginning, and the Very ending) would have you believe it to be the case... if you didn't read the 340 pages in between.

5. Barren #1: War in the Ruins by J. Thorn

Although it took me a few more chapters than usual for me to get into this particular work of J. Thorn, I ended up really getting pulled into the characters and the world here. It's a dark book, partly because the collapsed societies and what's left are frighteningly believable in a way that's hard to dismiss; the discomfort of reading is elevated by the twisted logic of the villains as well, and the fact that it's slightly too easy to imagine how the world we know could crumble into what's depicted here, given the right catalysts.

I will say that this doesn't feel like a first book in a series--it feels complete and ended, to the extent that I'm curious how the series will continue, or even what character it will follow, so while elements of the book felt somewhat predictable (though, not many), the series itself is already turning out to be something of a surprise for me. One way or another, I expect to read the next one in the series, and although I've got mixed feelings about the ending here, I find that I'm actually really anxious to see where this storyline gets taken next.

6. Stealing Amy by Izzy Sweet and Sean Moriarty

On one hand, there were things about this dark romance that I really enjoyed--the characters, in single moments, were believable and worth engaging with (with the caveat that this will probably only be the case if you Like dark romance), and the story itself was fast-paced with a good balance of action and steamy romance. The protagonist's child might have been a little flat, but then again, she wasn't present a huge amount, so that didn't bother me all that much; she was believable when she was present, and in this case, that was enough for me. I will say that, along with the caveat about this being a dark romance, I feel I need to mention the male protagonist here is a far bit darker than most, and we see the violence of his world. The gore involved in him being mafia might be a bit much for some readers, though I actually didn't mind it since these books more often have male protagonists who are Said to be dark, but don't show a hint of it. Definitely not the case here.

That said, my big problem here was with the male protagonist, Andrew. I can't even call what happened insta-love, because it wasn't that, but I will call it insta-obsession. From the moment he met Amy, he had to have her. No build-up, no explanation, no rationale or attempt to explain the sudden, life-charging, all-or-nothing obsession. He just Had to have her. Now, if this had been a pattern with him (which wouldn't be the case, or it would have been a very different man, book, and genre), that might make sense. Serial killers HAVE to have particular victims all the time, and their rationales may or may not make sense. But in this case, where he seems to have been an in-attached and driven man prior to meeting her, totally disinterested in a wife, let alone a child... well, we needed something. Anything at all really. Anything to explain why, as soon as he sees her, he's utterly obsessed with making her his. The more his obsession (because there's no other way to describe it, even from his lips) was harped on, also, the more distracting the issue was. Readers can't help wondering, 'Wait, when did he get so obsessed with her, and why?' The answers: "Immediately upon seeing her" and "We have no earthly clue".

So, would I read another book by these authors? I might. I have another one lying around already, also from this series, and this was a fast and relaxing enough read that I'll probably pick it up. But, at the same time, I really can't recommend this whole-heartedly, engaging as various scenes were, and as strong as other aspects of the book were.

7. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

There's no doubt that this is a magical little story surrounding a character who will now, always, be one of my favorites of Gaiman's, and it's also got Gaiman's signature voice. More than any other book I've read in some time, this felt something like a book that's meant to be read aloud in the hours before bedtime.

And yet, I've really got mixed feelings about it. In the beginning, after the very, very beginning, it felt somewhat stilted and wandering, and I had a hard time really getting engaged. I was interested when I picked it up, but I also found myself wanting more. Gaiman wrote in the acknowledgements that it was only his daughter wanting to know 'what happened next' that kept him writing beyond the early pages, and I wonder if that's part of it--that maybe with the book being at someone else's passion and request, it doesn't have quite all of the emotion and passion (because I can't think of any other word for what I want more of) that I've felt radiating from his other books. In the end, it's true enough that I was swept up wholly in the plot and couldn't put the book down... but then, in the end, I also felt a little disappointed. I'd been swept up into the world, and some part of me felt, in the end, as if most of the book had been written for children, and I'd been enmeshed in That world, and then all of a sudden it felt like the ending was more for grown-ups, or at least more in the vain of so much other children's literature that rushes in with a moral or a lesson to close things off. It left me with a bad taste in my mouth for the book as a whole, really, although that bad taste only came from the very ending.

So, all told, I don't know. Perhaps, in a week or two, I'll look back and feel like this does in a way live up to Gaiman's other works. Today, though, some 24-hours after finishing it, I feel like the characters and many of the moments and the writing all live up to those other works... but the ending, and the book as a whole, doesn't. Not quite, anyway.

If someone had told me to stop before reading the last chapter of the book, to just not read that last chapter at all and pretend it wasn't there, I think I would have put this book down with the same magical wonder I put down his Stardust and so many other books that I love. And if I gave this book as a gift, I'd probably tell whoever I gave it to: Don't read the last chapter. But then, I'm not really that kind of reader--I like to finish things--so I don't know if I could have forced myself to listen to the advice. Probably not, I suppose. Still, I wish the book had ended on page 291 instead of 307, and that that last bit hadn't been written. It's more like the adult/grown-up/moral ending on what was otherwise a marvelous, magical story, and that's not what I go to Gaiman for. We've got enough reality in our own world, that I don't want to see adult lessons creeping into magical children's books when they're not needed.

Oh, how I loved this book...

8. The Song of the Orphans by Daniel Price

Song of the Orphans doesn't just live up to the fantastic concept and promise of Flight of the Silvers (Book 1 in the trilogy)--instead, it works on from the first book to deliver an outstanding, character-driven piece of suspenseful science fiction that's nearly impossible to put down.

Building on the first book, The Song of the Orphans centers on the same world-breachers readers came to love in the first book, and expands their circle just enough to offer new faces and in-depth interactions without taking away from that original focus. And although there were a lot of suggestions of what would come in Book 1, this installment in the series manages to deliver on all of them without ever becoming predictable, or even slowing down. Instead, the book is packed with twists (that I, at least, didn't see coming) and character development that make the world come to life, balancing humor and action against character and heart to the extent that this book has a little bit of everything. What may impress me most, I also have to say, is Price's nuance and care when it comes to using or addressing any element of time travel. Time travel can so easily muddle up stories and characters, I'm always somewhat nervous when I see a book where time travel comes up, but isn't the focus. Here, Price works it in masterfully, but in such a way that it never comes across as either a device or something that's used too easily--and it's never used predictably, in either Book 1 or 2. With that added to the fact that even premonitions are treated in such a way that they're more of a characteristic than a focus, and with characters that can't help but bring sympathy, the book is... well, it's wonder-full, and I look forward to the moment when I pick up Books 1 and 2 to read them again in preparation for reading Book 3.

Lastly, I'll say that even though this book is over 700 pages, the inertia and power of it make it seem like a lot less; in fact, as I came up on the last two hundred pages, I had to force myself to slow down instead of powering through it, knowing I wanted to savor the story while I could since the third book in the series in still in the works (though the author keeps on giving out tantalizing updates via his website, which I'm dutifully trying to ignore).

If you like suspenseful, character-driven speculative fiction, or genre-bending stories that cover incredible territory with stellar writing, then you should pick this series it up. As far as I'm concerned, it really is that simple. I have a feeling that, long after I've read Book 3, this will always be one of the most striking and memorable science fiction series I'll have ever come across, and whether it's making me laugh or cry at a given moment, I absolutely adore it.

Obviously, I recommend it.

I had issues with The Graveyard Book too. I did think you could get a really fun picture book series out of it though, something with very limited text.

>15 mabith:, I'd totally agree with that. I'm still trying to figure out if I'd have been As disappointed if it had come from someone besides Gaiman, but the more I've thought about it, I'm actually wondering if I'm giving it more credit just because I adore his other books so much. Hard to tell, I guess. Definitely not his best, though.

9. Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey

Fun, dark, and sort of heart-breakingly ridiculous, this is one of those books that you can't help falling into and catapulting through. I have to imagine it's a little like what could result from a mafia boss locking Stephen King and Christopher Moore into a room, and demanding they write a book for him. It defies genre, and it makes you laugh at things that, if you thought about them for any length of time, might make you cry or crawl into the closet to hide.

In other words, it's kind of awesome, and I can't wait to read the next one.

So, yes, absolutely, I recommend it.

10. Audrey Hepburn's Neck by Alan Brown

At its heart, Audrey Hepburn's Neck is about difference--yearning for difference, fearing difference, and the same time hoping that there is no such thing. Between cultures, between individuals, and between futures.

Brown has drawn here a man who believes he knows his history, and his future, as well. Toshi thinks he knows who he is, and who his (simple) parents are, and what he wants. If not the reasons, he believes he knows who he is, and so he wanders forward. And as difference confronts him and he finds that his history and his future are hopelessly comingled, to the point of determining his passions, he is both completed and undone.

This sounds vague, and messy, and it is, but the book is anything but. Brown has drawn a masterfully detailed protagonist who any reader can both relate to and fear, and he's done a magnificent job. This book is not what I thought I was picking it up, and it is not flighty or simple, however easy and fast a read it may be. Instead, it is compelling and incredibly difficult, and a bit heartbreaking for how truly true it feels.

Yes, it's recommended.

11. Naked in Death by J.D. Robb

I wasn't sure what to expect from this one, but I ended up really enjoying it once I got a few chapters into it. The writing moves fast, and there's a good balance of intrigue, action, and romance. I might have liked a little bit more depth to the minor characters, as especially the women seemed to bleed together and be rather cut from the same cloth, but the main characters had enough depth and distinction to even out that flaw a bit, and the mystery itself didn't feel to be either too drawn out or predictable, so the book as a whole was a great escape read. For readers who like a mix of intrigue/mystery and romance in a police procedural, I'd certainly recommend it, and I do plan on picking up the next few books in the series sooner than later.

12. Poems for New Orleans by Edward Sanders

For me, this was an incredibly disappointing read. I love works set in or drawn around New Orleans, and Patricia Smith's Blood Dazzler (centered on Katrina, specifically) is one of my favorite works of contemporary poetry, so I had high hopes for this collection. And yet, most of the poems fell flat for me.

Although some of the poems here are worth admiring for their play with language and history, most of them come across as something more like prose which has been chopped up for effect, or for humor. And, I admit, the tone of many of them just struck me wrong, to where it felt to me like an outsider writing of what he thinks New Orleans to be and come from, so that at many points I almost felt like the voices of the poems were somewhat superficial, or snarky and condescending. Midway through the book, I felt like some of the more contemporary ones were stronger, but then, at the end, I have to admit that the last sequence in the collection left an incredibly bad taste in my mouth for the collection as a whole, and while I could see what the author was perhaps trying to do... I just didn't like it, either in intention or execution.

So, all told, the truth is that I can't recommend this book, and I doubt I'll revisit it. I've enjoyed Sanders work quite a bit in other collections, but here... well, it wasn't for me.

13. The Children of Men by P.D. James

There's a quiet sort of desperation to this book, and it moves from being slow and rather innocuous into something which is not just suspenseful, but tight and damning, piling moral question upon moral question in a sort of natural domino effect that a reader can't help but watch. When I began the book, I was reading perhaps ten pages at a time, and then putting it down easily. In my final two sittings, I read sixty pages until my eyes gave out over its small print, and then the final fifty.

Out of a future that is infertile and hopeless, tightly controlled and mannered, James has asked the simplest question regarding what happens when a small beginning can be glimpsed in what appears to be a landscape of endings, and the result is impressive and smart.

Recommended.

14. Moonlight Sins by Jennifer L. Armentrout

I have to say that this book really grew on me, though I'm not all that sure that that's saying much. About forty pages in, I was actually thinking about not finishing it--really, I was that annoyed with it. A bit part of that was the narrator feeling more like a sorority girl than an adult--I just about threw the book across the room when 'rando' and 'convo' were used not in dialogue, but in the narrative, and that still drives me nuts when I think about it. But, slowly, my annoyance faded and it got better.

I do think the marketing was off--I expected this to be a much darker read, and more gothic or spooky, than it actually was--but as a contemporary romance, it grew on me and I really ended up enjoying it. The characters also grew on me. I still feel as if the heroine was written really young (too young) in most scenes, really wherever she wasn't working, but the chemistry and the romance itself was written well enough that I could mostly ignore that. That said, there also seemed to be some odd aging issues with Lucian--he came across as older and far more interesting when he wasn't with Julia, and seemed almost to regress in age when he was with her. In some ways, maybe that makes sense, but a lot of the scenes between the two of them felt like they were written as if the two of them were closer to 18 than adults, so... I don't know.

In the end, I enjoyed it, but it wasn't what I expected (from the description Or the cover, both of which seem quite a bit darker than the book), and I'm not sure that the strengths are actually strong enough to bring me back for the next book in the series.

I might recommend this to contemporary romance or billionaire romance readers, but I'd warn any readers that the spookiness/darkness suggested by the cover and blurb really aren't to be found in the story itself.

15. A Cold Dark Place by Emily Kenyon

Olsen's thrillers are page-turning and twisting escapes, and this one was no different. With believable, flawed characters and enough complexity to make it feel real, this is one of those books that spins by in a flood of drama, action, and suspense. And even where there are some small bits that felt, at times, predictable, they were enmeshed in such a full picture that, all told, I really didn't mind.

There's no doubt in my mind that I'll pick up the next in the Emily Kenyon series fairly soon. Absolutely, recommended.

16. The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil by George Saunders

I wish I could say that I didn't understand this, or found it obscure, or thought it exaggerated beyond what it had to be. I wish I could say that, entertaining as it is, it isn't something which we should need to worry about--or, worse, be aware of--on a daily basis. I wish I could say that it isn't, as the blurb describes, 'an Animal Farm' for our times. I wish that, reading it now, I didn't feel like Saunders was not just offering warning, but prediction, back when he wrote this.

And, yet.

If this is a difficult read, it's because it feels too real and raw, too much like what seems to be unfolding in too many parts of our world and even on the news, crossing our television screams. In fact, it's a bit too raw to be entertaining or humorous, and a bit too hard to be boring. When this was published, had I read it then, I think I might have been bored or annoyed with it, or simply not enjoyed it, and read it and then forgotten about. Reading it tonight, none of those things were possible, though it's still true that I didn't quite enjoy it. I devoured it in the way that one can't quite help reading some things, and it was a painful experience. It is a painful experience, as it should be, because it's quite a bit more real and graceful than anyone would wish.

I read Audrey Hepburn's Neck when I was 13 or 14, after an aunt gave it too me when we were visiting (driving home to West Virginia from New Mexico allows for a lot of reading time). So strange when a book read so long ago randomly pops up.

>25 mabith:, Did you enjoy it? I can't imagine I would have at that age, honestly lol. Of course, I was pretty firmly addicted to horror and fantasy, but still...

Strangely enough I too have a vivid recollection of reading Audrey Hepburn's Neck several years ago. In fact it was back in the year 2000. It was unlike anything else I was reading around that time though I recall the reason I had picked it up was because I had read Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata and Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro (both books I had loved) a few months earlier and so was drawn to another book set in Japan. I enjoyed it though I recall wondering what a native Japanese person would think of it and whether it's depiction of contemporary Japan would ring true. It wasn't a book I had previously heard of and I don't think I've actually ever heard it mentioned anywhere else since then. LT doesn't show any more works by Alan Brown so I don't know if he ever published anything else.

>27 iftyzaidi:, I didn't find anything else by him when I looked, so I don't think he did. I wondered the same thing about how someone from Japan would react to it. The only friend I have who's Japanese doesn't enjoy reading at all, so I didn't bother asking him about it or passing it off to see lol. It is a strange book, though, so I'm not surprised you guys remember it from years ago. And that title does rather stand out!

17. The Harlequin by Laurell K. Hamilton

I'd been away from this series for a while, but coming back into it was like finding an old friend. Hamilton's characters are so specific and real that, this far into the series, the character struggles and the dynamics among them flow seamlessly into the fast-paced plotting, dialogue, and steamed up romance. There were moments in this book that reminded me why I fell in love with the series to begin with, and moments that were so striking, so flawlessly drawn, that they reminded me why other urban fantasy I come across just doesn't really come close to the power of this series.

There are so many characters, and the details of things are so intricate at this point that I think readers would have to start with the earlier books in order to enjoy this one, but I certainly think it lives up to the precedent that this series has set for itself.

So, I have to share that today I signed a publication for my second book! It's my first novel, and it's steamy romance/paranormal suspense--I'm insanely excited :)

I've also asked SO many questions, I feel really confident that this is going to be a much better experience than I had with the publisher of my first book a few years ago, which was a poetry collection. Plus, they like it so much that they're already wondering what my timeline is going to be for the sequel!

Congratulations, Jennifer!! That is so exciting!

>31 ronincats:, Thanks :) I'm thrilled!

Congrats! That's wonderful!!

>33 mabith:, Thanks :)

Congratulations!!!!

Wow! Congratulations! That is great news.

>35 jfetting: and >36 iftyzaidi:, Thanks :)

18. Un Lun Dun by China Mieville

Although it took me some time to get wrapped up in Mieville's Un Lun Dun, by the time I did, I had a hard time putting the book down. The characters and situations were simply fun, and the book moved at such a fast pace that it sometimes seemed to be as much a collage as anything, somewhat reminiscent of something like Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, but with an adult edge. There were times when I lost track of what details meant or exactly who characters were, as they sometimes blended together, and the frantic pace heightened this effect. But, because things stayed rather centered when it came to the main characters, the book never really lost my interest--it only, at times, became something of a blur.

I am anxious to read some other work by Mieville and see how it compares. This was a lot of fun, but I think I might have enjoyed it more if distinct moments had been given more time to resonate, or more depth--sometimes it felt like I was racing along from one to the next before a moment of danger had had time to sink in!

Nevertheless, I think readers of fast, fun adventures like Alice in Wonderland and the Phantom Tollbooth will enjoy it, and it would also be right up the alley of readers of Vandermeer.

19. The Inkblots: Hermann Rorschach, his Iconic test, and the Power of Seeing by Damon Searls

Searls' dual examination of the famous inkblot test and the man who created it is a fascinating journey, moving from one man's passion to help his patients on through a single test's development, evolution, and outreach, along with the debates and criticism surrounding it. In its beginning, the book is a carefully laid out character study with an eye toward why Rorschach was so perfectly situated to develop the iconic inkblot test, and how his genius for both therapy and visual analysis put him in the position of conceiving, experimenting with, and fully developing what's now such an iconic test.

In its whole, this is an impressive work that tackles history, theory, and biography in a way that brings them together and offers what amounts to a careful biography of the test itself, in all its various forms and debates. And although any fair description of the work may make it sound like dry material, that's far from being the case--this is a compulsively readable book that I'd recommend on to anyone with any interest in character, psychology, or history.

Absolutely recommended to anyone interested.

Glad to hear The Inkblots is good! It's been on my list since it showed up in an Early Reviewer list some time ago.

40> That's where I discovered it :) Honestly, the blurb and the cover make it sound/look dry, but it's really not. I'd recommend it to pretty much anyone who was remotely interested!

20. Deep by Kylie Scott

This was a fun addition to the Stage Dive series. Predictable as it might have been, simply based on the series and the genre, it still came through with such humor, heat, and chemistry that it was impossible not to get wrapped up in the story and pulled along for the ride. All told, it fully lived up to the earlier books in the series, and only confirmed that Kylie Scott is one of my favorite contemporary romance writers.

21. When Red is Black by Qiu Xiaolong

As the third book in the Inspector Chen mystery series, When Red is Black took me a bit longer to get into it than the previous novels, but for obvious enough reasons. Whereas the first two books in the series remained focused on Inspector Chen, this installment has a dual focus on him and his lead detective. The book's blurb didn't suggest this in any way at all, so although I enjoyed getting to know Yu and his family, the split focus of the book just wasn't what I was expecting, and I think my reading experience suffered for it. That said, Xiaolong's style and narrative still sucked me in, and I ended up really enjoying the book. I imagine that future books in the series with a split focus like this will be easier to slip into (assuming there'll be some), but Chen's character is still such that I hope most of the books simply focus on him.

In any case, I'd certainly recommend it to fans of the earlier books in the series, though I'm not sure it's capable of quite the same power of inertia. One way or another, I'm looking forward to picking up the next book in the series.

22. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

I've read a lot of books that deal with illness, so although this wasn't a book that I would necessarily have picked up for myself, I figured it would be worth reading because of all the raving praise I'd heard for it. Instead, I feel pretty disgusted with it.

I'm honestly not sure why this book became so popular, or set off, it seems, what's known as 'sick lit' now--in my opinion, it is pretty sick. Don't get me wrong--the book is well-written. It's smart and clever and made of endearing characters. But there are also a ton of problems.

Let's start with the clever characters. No characters are this clever and this smart ALL the time. I'm sorry, but they're just not. Everyone, once in a while at least, has a normal conversation that's not overflowing with clever banter and cutesy moments. The fact that the teens at the center of this book are over-the-top clever and admirable in that non-popular-kid-cool-kid fashion is probably something that amuses a lot of readers, but which is totally unrealistic. And, yes, some books are unrealistic--that's true. I love fantasy and sci-fi, too. BUT, they're not pretending to be realistic. Because this book sets up what it presents as a realistic world and a tragic situation, turning these characters into clever young comedians is a disservice to the whole project, making it incredibly unbelievable. Is it a tragic story? Yes. Is it believable? Only in its final, final outcome.

So, let's move to the plot. First of all, as a life-long writer and reader, I was insanely annoyed by the fact that these characters were obsessed with finding out what happens after the ending of their favorite book. That, in itself, is impossible to believe. Can I see them writing a few letters to the author? Sure. Can I see him answering them with even an offhand invitation to visit, this to be followed by all of the impossible-to-believe plot turns that follow it? Not in a million years. Not to mention the fact that, for kids who are presented as crazy-smart and creative, this whole part of the plot only works if they're incredibly dumb and uncreative.

So, add all that to the fact that this book romanticizes death and dying, feeding into the type of mindset that leads to things like suicide pacts, and I'm done. And maybe you want to argue with me on that last point, but take two seconds to think about how you were as a teenager. Take two seconds to think about the fact that suicide pacts exist. Take two seconds to think about how the character in the book here, who is without any doubt dying, essentially gives up on their own life/treatment because of a desire to go adventure with the other teen they've fallen in love with. When you were a teen, in love with another ill teen who was healthier than you, would you have made the grand gesture of giving up on your own health to make them happy? Realistically, the answer might very well be yes--especially if you'd read a book like this.

At best, maybe a sick teen can read this book and find someone who seems like the ideal version of themselves if they absolutely can't or won't imagine themselves without illness (which, as far as I'm concerned, would mean they'd given up, with this book's full support); at worst, this book is a way to rationalize giving up on life, and giving up early.

So, no, I don't find this book worthwhile or admirable. I don't find it smart or poignant timely. As someone who works with teens and was an emotional teen, and who, as a teen, had to deal with a friend succumbing to a terrible illness, I instead find it pretty damn horrifying.

As far as I'm concerned, this shouldn't be a book (or a genre) we celebrate. To me, the best thing about it is its title.

23. Foreigner by C.J. Cherryh

At another time, maybe I would have enjoyed this more, but the truth is that it just didn't quite keep my attention, to the extent that I really ended up losing track of the plot. Since the focus was placed on plot more so than character, that essentially led to my having a harder and harder time keeping track of the narrative and remaining interested. There were spots where it sucked me in, but I have to admit I didn't particularly enjoy this.

24. Crimes of the Father by Thomas Keneally

Keneally's novel will, without a doubt, scare many people away just by virtue of its subject. It's difficult to pick up a book which you know from the get-go is going to focus on sexual abuse, the Catholic Church, and children who've been taken advantage of by their own priests. And yet, Keneally's creation of Father Frank Doherty is touching, nuanced, and striking; his character is one who is stuck in a situation and place that he never dreamed of entering at all, surrounded by people who distrust him because of his openness and values, and an institution he loves, but sees honestly and feels compelled to criticize because he believes it is only through such criticism that its greatness can be regained, if not maintained.

Keneally's gorgeous writing and unerring pacing make this book nearly impossible to put down, despite the fact that he takes on subjects which, most often, are more comfortably left unspoken. The book is striking, smart, and compelling, and well worth reading for anyone concerned with the Catholic Church as an institution or the faith in our contemporary world, as well as any reader who might be interested in an intricate character study of a man who is caught irrevocably between his faith and his reality.

Absolutely, 100%, recommended.

And, I finished another wonderful one...

25. Time and Again by Jack Finney

There's something about this book that makes it possible to believe in time travel, and that alone makes it something far beyond time travel books I've read in the past. Finney manages to build this world and the premise so carefully, and the logic is so wonderfully simple and sensible in its own way, that his utterly real characters make it seem as if we're not reading about some other world, but our own reality where, just perhaps, this might be possible. That's the beauty of this book, combined with his wonderful characters and writing that sucks you in and all but demands that you keep turning pages. Each time I sat down to read a few chapters, I read far more than that, and had to be forced by time or my eyes to finally put the book down.

I freely admit that I'm not much for time travel books, normally, though I love fantasy--this brings together everything I love about suspense, literary fiction, fantasy, and speculative fiction in general, into a tale that feels more real and translated into fiction than it feels like a story.

I'd absolutely recommend, and I'm so glad to have discovered this author.

Up for the rest of April, I'm currently reading Cloud Atlas and Half of a Yellow Sun.

If all goes as planned, I'll also fit in...

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
The Nightrunners by Joe Lansdale
and
Uncovering You by Scarlett Edwards

Well, I gave up on Cloud Atlas after getting about halfway through--there's a rant (um, review) written if you're interested.

On a better note, I finished Half of a Yellow Sun last night (26th read...), and it was a really striking, worthwhile read with gorgeous writing.

Full Review:

Although it doesn't quite have the same immediacy and power of Purple Hibiscus, this is still a striking, worthwhile read. Perhaps inevitably, especially early on, one of the characters at the center of the book pulled me in more than others, and one put me off somewhat. Yet, by the end of the book, the story as a whole felt more cohesive and I no longer felt disappointed when I turned a page to discover the next chapter's focus. The second part of the book did lag some--Adichie moves between the early sixties and the late sixties, by part, and the first section that jumps forward is slower, to the extent that I almost felt as if I was beginning the book anew and felt let-down. As with the viewpoints, though, the structure evens out and becomes a strength of the book as the war comes more into focus.

As in her other work, Adichie's prose is graceful and brutal--it doesn't exaggerate suffering, but it also doesn't flinch. With its focus centered on the Nigeria-Biafra war, that means this is not an easy read. At the same time, her characters are themselves believable and flawed, almost painfully real. And, because of all of this, Half of a Yellow Sun is a stand-out book that should be read, and passed along.

Recommended.

I read an early release copy of this book at the end of 2017, so I'm not "counting it", but it was so wonderful, I wanted to make sure to get out reviews now that it's been released. If you like fantasy or epic fantasy or wonderfully built worlds and characters, read this:

Solace Lost: Pandemonium Rising #1 by Michael Sliter

(The touchstones aren't working, but you'll find it if you search for it here, on goodreads, or on amazon.)

Full Review:

In creating the cast for Solace Lost and this world of epic fantasy, Sliter managed to bring to life a cast of characters that are worlds apart, and wonderfully believable. As their stories interweave and the world they live in itself comes to life, this is one of those books that gains its own sort of building inertia--in the beginning, I didn't want to put it down, and is it continued, I couldn't. Sliter's seamless writing and striking narrative pull together into a book that is the reason I seek out fantasy like this to begin with, and it's wonderful.

This book delivers on everything it promises, from drama and intrigue on to humor and suspense and action. Yet, for me, it's the characters--Fenrir, Merigold, and Emma, especially--who keep the tale fresh in my mind, and make it hard to wait for the sequel. There's no doubt that this tale will stay with me, and that I'll continue to think of the characters as more real than created while I wait for the next installment.

Absolutely recommended.

I thought Cloud Atlas was brilliant (still enjoyed your review), and Half of a Yellow Sun was ho-hum !?

Enjoyed The Moonstone so hope we agree on that !

>51 bryanoz: lol. I am enjoying The Moonstone quite a lot :)

I will say, I've read a lot of African literature, so it's possible my previous background in the history/places involved in the book elevated it some for me. It's also possible that I love her first book, Purple Hibiscus, so much that the slower passages seemed less slow when it got time to write my review, always because I trusted throughout that the last section would make up for any early slow sections :)

27. Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks

Taking a small village and a single caring woman as her subject, Brooks' "novel of the plague" is not just powerful and elegantly written, but as complete as I can imagine a novel about the plague being. With every emotion at play, and an eerie level of truth touching near on every scene, Brooks has recreated a self-quarantined village and brought it to life.

Although it won't be for every reader, owing simply to its subject and the darkness of some of the passages, this is a book worth reading, and I'd absolutely recommend it.

28. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

Considered the first detective story, and a classic suspense story, Collins' The Moonstone is a cycling, twisting tale of intrigue and theft. From narrator to narrator, the parts of the world unfold until clues seem to build to one conclusion, and then another, surprising the characters along with the reader.

Although it took me some time to get into the book, once I passed through the first two narrators' sections, I could hardly put the book down, and so many moments and details surprised me that it was an incredibly satisfying read, and one I'm surprised I didn't manage to read sooner. I'd absolutely recommend this to anyone who loves the classics, from Dickens on through others, and anyone who enjoys mysteries--this was a fun one.

29. Uncovering You: The Contract by Scarlett Edwards

It's hard to know how to feel about this book because, in and of itself, it's not a complete book. It's set up as one, but realistically, it's only the beginning of one. And outside of the lack of editing that affects so many self-published works (though not this one), maybe this is one of the big problems--authors have incentive to publish a lot of short pieces rather than single long pieces in some ways... and that's fine. But apparently, in this case, it led to an author writing one long piece, and splitting it into three books.

By itself, this 'first book in the series' is more of a tease than a story in and of itself. If you're buying it for Kindle, you can buy all three for 99 cents each, but the fact that it's published alone does, on some level, suggest there's a particular story to be had here, just as there'd be if you bought the first book in a series in a bookstore. But, as a book, this doesn't warrant the label.

If I'd just finished reading the first part of a book, I might not be too unsatisfied right now--it's a decent beginning, though it's got some issues (not least of them the sections where she's remembering back to being 12, in memories that vary between making her sound like a 6-year-old and an 18-year-old). But, as someone who just read what she considered to be a book in and of itself, and the beginning of a series... well, yeah, I don't think I got what I paid for, and the lack of substance/completion here overshadows what was a decent beginning to a book.

So, will I continue reading? Yes, I will, because I bought the first three in the series together, knowing they were something of a trilogy even if I didn't realize how much they were together only essentially one book. But, will I read more by this author? No, I probably won't. I'm not going to pay full book price for what ends up being only a third of a book, and it seems that that's what this author's intention is That means that, on some level, she's putting money above either stories or readers, and combined with the fact that there's nothing really Special about this particular book/story so far, that means I feel a bit gipped, and frustrated that marketing processes led an author to make this particular choice and concession.

Here's hoping that other authors don't, as I certainly haven't seen anything to this extent before.

30. Darkest Pleasure by Gena Showalter

Although I enjoyed getting back into the world Showalter created for this series, I have to admit that this third installment of the series didn't quite live up to the first two. I think it had something to do with the balancing act she's pulling off between characters--the previous books were much more focused on the romance aspect of the plot coming up between two people, and this one kept on wandering away from the couple in focus to keep readers up to date with what was happening with other characters. So, for me, the balance between romance and a larger world of action & concern somewhat took away from the pacing of the book--I'd opened up the book feeling in the mood for romance, and because that's what I'd looked for specifically, as set up by the first two books, I was a little let down. It was there... it just kept on getting interrupted, so it wasn't quite the same type of escape read.

That said, Showalter's characters and plotting are as well-written and interesting as ever, and I do definitely plan to read more in the series--I'm just going to start thinking of them more as I think of the Laurell K. Hamilton books, in that they seem to be more focused on a larger world and a balancing act between characters, as opposed to focusing on the romance and really feeling like that genre they're labeled as, compared to others.

31. The Sowing: Moondreamer Chronicles #1 by Tamara Mataya

Although this is a fast read and the middle portion pulled me in, there are so many problems with this book that it's hard for me to imagine continuing on with the series. Aside from the characters being fairly flat and inconsistent, there's also the problem of premise. From the protagonist not acting believably in the beginning right on to the fact that a whole population seems to have been waiting for her to come save them -- despite not knowing she existed, and despite the fact that they could have done what she ends up doing all on their own -- the opening chapters of the book display a number of issues. Not to mention the fact that the protagonist herself is one of the less consistent characters I've read in some time, and suffers pretty seriously from ranging back and forth between two extremes of attitude and confidence -- most of the time, she's either half-panicked and wondering how she'll ever manage to do what she's signed up for, wishing someone would come save her, or else she's suddenly the most confident, capable, and powerful 21-year-old ever. In other words, she's annoyingly inconsistent, and takes on whatever attitude/persona happens to be convenient to a particular moment, whether that's damsel in distress or amazing heroine, and it gets old quickly.

Things move quickly in the middle, and it's easy to get wrapped up in the book, but then as the larger plot comes into focus, it also becomes clear that the premise for the series itself, and the primary conflict, are so derivative of X-Men that the connections can't be ignored. At best, you could say that this hinges on characters more built from classic fantasy (elves, sprites, etc.) than characters with powers that are more reminiscent of a sci-fi world... but really? The further into the book you go, the more it becomes clear that this is only a slightly twisted version of the X-Men world, dumbed down and sprinkled with romance, a an annoying 21-year-old's sarcasm, and a whole lot of panicked, flat characters.

So, obviously, I wouldn't recommend this book, and I certainly won't be continuing on with the series.

32. The Lesser Dead by Christopher Buehlman

I don't remember when I last felt driven enough to devour a full-length novel in less than 24 hours, but that's what happened with The Lesser Dead.

Like the other works I've read by Buehlman, this book pulled me in from nearly the first moment I picked it up. Buehlman has a talent for building wonderfully flawed characters and dropping them into horrific worlds or situations that feel more real than fictional, as if you might have seen the story unfold yourself if you'd just been in the right (or wrong) place at the right (or, rather, wrong) time. In other words, this book drops you into a world you'd never want to participate in, and it makes you feel like you understand it. The horror of the scenes practically drips from the pages, and the narrator's voice is real enough that it echoes even after the pages get turned.

All told, this is one of those books that makes story-telling seem effortless, with dark fluid language and characters who you might describe in just the same way. It's the best vampire book I've read in a long time, yes, but it's also the best horror I've read in quite some time.

If you like horror, or scary stories in general, you need to pick it up.

Oh great, thanks for another book bullet ??:)

>46 whitewavedarling: You might like Three Cheers for the Paraclete, which won the Miles Franklin Award in 1968 and is based on Thomas Keneally's experience as a trainee priest. I really enjoyed it. Adding Crimes of the Father to the wishlist.

>59 bryanoz:, sorry ;)

>60 pamelad:, Thanks! I'll make sure to look into it sooner than later :)

This has turned into a slow reading month for me, partly because I picked up two really long books (one fiction and one nonfiction). This novel slowed me down quite a bit...

33. Quietus by Vivian Schilling

I've got incredibly mixed feelings about this book, truth be told. Quietus is built from atmosphere right from the start, and it was the creepiness of things that swept me into the story from the beginning--and that kept me wanting to turn the page. For most of the book, what builds into a supernatural thriller is atmospheric, dark, and wonderfully paced, with a flavor of horror that I loved. Story-wise, the problem for me came pretty late in the book--maybe three quarters of the way through, the plot's focus moved more into what felt like a familial drama, with grief, family, and domestic concerns taking over. Although I understood the turn and the way the book got there, in a lot of ways, the author lost me. I kept reading out of curiosity, to see what would happen... but even a hundred pages from the end, I already knew I wouldn't be picking up another book by this author. Readers who like both types of fiction, both supernatural thrillers and domestic suspense or women's fiction, might not be bothered by the move... but I have to admit it rather ruined the book for me. Simply, it became a book that I just wasn't interested in, subject-wise and genre-wise.

And, it has to be said that this book should have been a lot shorter. Schilling truly needed a better editor to get involved here and help on a language level, sentence by sentence. There's so much telling (vs. showing), and just in general, the book is overwritten--taking three sentences to make a point when the point was already made two paragraphs before and doesn't need to be restated. That issue alone would probably be enough to keep me from picking up another of Schilling's books, honestly, much as I enjoyed the story in the beginning. My paperback clocks in at 646 pages, and I feel pretty confident in saying that it would be a much better book if it were 100-150 pages shorter, given how overwritten it is.

So, interesting as I found the premise and the beginning, I'm afraid this isn't a book I can recommend.

34. Conamara Blues by John O'Donohue

Lyrical and pastoral, these poems move by with a sort of languid beauty and blend into a long meditation with some gorgeous images. It's a quiet book, filled with glimpses of Ireland, mysticism, and transcendental visions, but well worth wandering through for the interested reader.

35. Beyond the Velvet Curtain by Karen Kovacik

I admit I wanted more from this collection. Although the poems were interesting, they felt more like short thoughts in broken-up prose than poems where I could sink into the language as well as the meaning. There were some lovely images, but none of the poems had the power to pull me in and demand re-reading. They were instead brief, thoughtful, and careful... and perhaps too crafted. Interesting as they were, they just fell somewhat flat for me.

36. The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner

My mom loved these books, and always wanted us kids to love them--but, by the time I got around to trying them in first grade, I was already reading Nancy Drew and these just couldn't keep my interest. Now that I've gone back to reading some kids and MG lit as an adult, I thought I'd give them a second try. Unfortunately, I have to admit that I still can't quite understand what others have seen in them. For me, the book felt a bit flat and simple--I'd have preferred a bit more depth or detail, even if the book or story had been simpler. I'm sorry to say that, in all likelihood, this wouldn't be a book I'd pass on to kids or parents looking for simple chapter books for their children. I just found it a bit boring, both back when I was in first grade, and now as an adult.

>>>>>65 whitewavedarling: I started with the Bobbsey Twins, then Nancy Drew. I think I read the Boxcar Children (probably 10-12 of them) following. I don't remember disliking them. It could be because I lived in a rural area with no school library. The bookmobile came once a month and I got the max number of books permitted.

>66 Tess_W:, I read those also, but my favorites among childrens lit were always the Trixie Belden books. I think I just skipped past these books. I remember liking the Bobbsey Twins for what they were in some ways, but also coming to those a bit late and feeling like they were too young for me to enjoy. Ah well. I picked up the first three Boxcar Children books at once when I picked up this first one, so I may read another out of curiosity, especially since the first one seems to set up the series more than anything... I could easily imagine that having fewer reading choices, though, could definitely influence how much enjoyment one might get out of them. I had a great library that we visited constantly, and I devoured books!

37. Roses of May by Dot Hutchison

Dark and full of voice, Hutchison's second installment in The Collector Trilogy is creepy and affecting--as a follow-up to The Butterfly Garden, it's an impressive expansion of the series that is both all new and true to what made the first book in the series so powerful.

For me personally, it was hard to imagine what would come after The Butterfly Garden in terms of a sequel, and I wasn't sure what to expect from this work. For the first few chapters, I had a slow time moving into the book... and then I didn't. Once the book pulled me, perhaps 40 pages in, I didn't want to walk away from it for even a moment. The characters are so darkly believable, and the writing so seemingly effortless, that this builds into a book which has its own special sort of inertia and power. It's striking, difficult, and gorgeous, all at once.

The first book in the series won't be for every reader, and while this book isn't as dark, I also don't think it would have near the same power or worth without that first book to back it up--so, if you were scared off from the first book by content, you probably can't simply dive in here and hope to catch up. But, if you loved the first book like I did... you'll want to read this one.

Absolutely recommended.

This is one that I got as an ARC a while ago, but wanted to hold off on reviewing until it was out for sale--because, really and truly, it's such a great read that I want people to read the review and go wander into it :) (And, P.S., the touchstones aren't working, but it's up on amazon and easy to find if you search outside librarything

38. NewsReal: A View Through the Lens When by Tim Ortman

Ortman's experiences as a part of the foreign press corps make for fascinating reading, transporting readers on a whirlwind journey of adventure, reporting, and humor. In traveling with Ortman into warzones, areas of famine and revolution, and even backstage at the TODAY show, readers get a glimpse into how reporting and the news media worked just some few decades ago that, in this industry, have seen a world of change.

With humor, intelligence, and an eye toward change, Ortman put together a fascinating look at his time as a cameraman for NBC, and whether readers search out the book for a view into moments in history, fascinating memoir, or a look at how media has changed over the last few decades, they won't be disappointed.

Absolutely recommended.

39. Firmin by Sam Savage

This is such a strange little book, but it's also a fascinating ride which is put together masterfully. Savage's novel, told from the perspective of a rat living in Boston, is kind of wonderfully odd and believable in terms of the life it creates, and although I'm not sure how it ended up on my shelves, I'm glad it did. The pairing of a soulful, lonely rat against a Boston bookstore and a search for meaning and entertainment has its own sort of beauty, and I can only imagine that many readers will be wonderfully surprised by this book.

Recommended.

40. Earthquake Owner's Manual by Martin Arnold

There are poems in this collection which I simply fell in love with. I read them once, and then again, and then again--and I'll come back to them in the future. Arnold has balanced everyday America against humor, suffering, and observations in a style that comes across as effortless, balancing image against language to make nearly every poem here worth reading and hearing more than once.

I've been a fan of this press for a while, so the look of Arnold's book combined with that familiarity drew me in pretty quickly, and I'm so glad it did. This is the kind of poetry which is deceptively simple, and which will offer readers as much as they wish to get from it, accessible and intelligent as it is.

Simply, I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys poetry or wants to jump in. I'll be looking for more of the author's work.

41. Purple America by Rick Moody

If Truman Capote and Denis Johnson had come together to write a novel, and a well-meaning but artless editor had come through to attempt to mesh their styles in a way that dulled down both and elevated the characters nobody could particularly like... this might be the result.

It's well-written and carefully put together, but I can't actually say that I enjoyed it. So, no, I wouldn't recommend it.

42. Buttons & Lace by Penelope Sky

I have sincerely mixed feelings about this book, but perhaps I should start by saying that I WILL be ordering the sequel, which I know says something in itself.

The trick is, this review has to be a tale of two books. The second half of this book is fantastic. It is everything you could ask for in a steamy dark romance, and the characters felt real. Maybe there were some moments where it felt a bit rushed or slightly too easy, but it was heads and tails above other dark romances I've read lately, and I really enjoyed it--I didn't want to put the book down. It was steamy, entrancing, and well worth the read.

But, getting to this point wasn't easy.

For whatever reason, Sky rushed through the first half of the book. Obviously, she felt the beginning part was important enough to write it, but after the first few chapters (which were solid), there was a good 100 pages that felt incredibly rushed. During those pages, I wanted to believe in the characters and feel the heroine's struggles and pain... but it was almost impossible. Details were just too fleeting. So, though we were told there was trauma, mental and physical, it didn't feel real or connect to me on any level. In fact, if I didn't find it so hard to put down books, I might well have put down the book.

I'm not sure why the writer rushed, unless perhaps she didn't want to get so dark, or was afraid more detail in this section of the book would scare readers away. Or maybe she rushed because she knew it would be a lengthy book regardless, and didn't want it to run 'too' long, whatever that would mean. I'm honestly not sure... but I can say that the book would be outstanding if she'd taken her time during those earlier, traumatic chapters. As it was, the character's thoughts and memories and reactions to the trauma that took place during those chapters, as related later in the book... well, they were hard to believe in and connect to. Truly, the reader might have been better off if all of that exposition had been summed up and the book had started midway through; at least, in that case, we wouldn't have felt like we Should understand, but couldn't.

So, I'm left with mixed feelings. Had I stopped at the mid-t0-halfway point, this probably would have been a one star book for me. Had the first half been more like the second half in terms of detail, it probably would have been a five star read for me.

As is, I'm left with a three star experience, I suppose, but I do plan on giving the second book in the series a try. Readers who delve into this for the dark romance aspect, know it only gets good at about the halfway point, though the very first few chapters of set-up are pretty good also. The lag is hard to get through, but I'm glad enough that I did.

We'll see what happens with the next book...

43. Swallowing Darkness by Laurell K. Hamilton

I'm not even sure I can say why, but this installment in the Meredith Gentry series didn't live up to the earlier books for me. For the second half of the book, I was just as wrapped up in the book as I usually am when it comes to Hamilton's writing, but the first half felt... I'm not sure. Somewhat rushed and scattered, as if chapters were being written to get characters from one moment to the next, but without the same depth as I'd expect from this author and series. There was just less weight to everything, and I had a hard time re-engaging with the series. Towards the middle, things picked up and I didn't want to put the book down--it felt like what I'd expected all along--but then the ending went back to feeling rather rushed, and didn't have the emotion I might have expected.

So, I don't know... readers couldn't start with this book in the series regardless, as this really is a series you need to read from beginning to end and not jump into. Perhaps it was just me, and the span of time between reading books 6 and 7. This also might just have been a lull in the series. I'd still recommend the series to readers of urban fantasy and readers who love Hamilton's Anita Blake series, and I'll be curious to see whether book 8 is more in line with what I've come to expect from the Meredith Gentry books.

44. Coraline by Neil Gaiman

This is a sort of marvelously creepy work, and I loved how understated the threats were in the beginning, and then the way Gaiman built upon the tension as things became more sinister. All told, I prefer his adult work, but I'd still recommend this as well worth exploring.

45. The End of the Dream by Ann Rule

A friend of mine recommended this series to me when she saw I was reading some nonfiction about criminal psychology, and though I've never really read True Crime, I picked this installment in the series up from a library sale when it caught my eye. I suppose I have mixed feelings about it, but it was certainly engaging. I doubt I'll be methodically picking up Rule's other works, but this was an interesting, in depth look at one case, with short explorations of another, and the detailed research was certainly impressive.

In the end, I'll probably continue sticking mostly to psychological thrillers that are wholly fiction and to nonfiction that deals heavily with psychology and only wanders into casefiles, but I'm glad I at least tried this, and I may try more if particular cases catch my interest. For what it is, I'd say this is probably a 4 star read, though for me personally it's probably closer to a 3.

Recommended If you're interested in true crime and/or bank robberies.

46. Every Day Above Ground by Glen Erik Hamilton

The third book in Hamilton's Van Shaw series, Every Day Above Ground might be the best one yet. The occasional shifts into Shaw's past work seamlessly, and the plot builds and builds, bringing together everything you'd want in an action-based thriller. There were a lot of characters, and I have a feeling my read might have suffered if I'd taken longer to read it or hadn't had the earlier books so fresh in mind, but reading the book in three long sittings made for a perfect escape--and, honestly, it wasn't as if I wanted to put the book down at all. Hamilton's writing is masterful, and the characters are believable enough that a reader can sink into their world and feel as if they're reading more truth than fiction, gritty and hard-hitting as they are.

With the depth of character and the intricate plots, I do think the Shaw novels work best when read quickly, but I certainly recommend them. I've devoured all three, and can't wait for more.

47. Havana Libre by Robert Arellano

I give Arellano credit for doing an incredible job of depicting Havana, Cuba and Little Havana in Miami, and offering believable voices, as well. But, at the same time, I'm afraid that that atmosphere was, for me, the best part of this book. The plot itself fell a bit flat for me, and the characters themselves came off as so nonchalant that there was almost a dampening effect on the plot, believable as they were. The pacing picked up a bit in the last part of the work, and I found myself more engaged, but the book as a whole just fell a bit flat for me. One of those, also, where I felt like more was happening To the characters, versus them being active, which probably heightened the passivity of the work as a whole.

I also have to say... the constant sprinkling in of Spanish got on my nerves. If it had come from particular characters/conversations and been translated, it wouldn't have bothered me, but it seemed to be sprinkled in almost randomly, which did more to draw attention that nearly all of the conversations taking place Would be taking place in Spanish--so why have some in Spanish and most in English if some are going to be in Spanish? And, while my Spanish is strong enough that I could understand a fair bit of those passages, I couldn't catch everything (maybe sometimes because I didn't care to put in the effort, I admit), and I found myself wondering about how readers without any Spanish would react.

So, yeah, this isn't something I could recommend, and I'm afraid I probably won't venture back to the author for more, much as I found the main character interesting at a characterization level.

48. Murder at the House of Rooster Happiness by David Casarett

Casarett's first installment in the Ethical Chiang Mai Detective Agency Series drew me in from the beginning, and I'm already looking forward to reading the next book in the series. With believable characters, a real immersion in Thai culture/atmosphere, masterful writing, and a plot that pulled me in from the beginning, this book has a lot to offer. It does have the feel of a cozy despite the fact that it takes place in a large city -- so it was a bit lighter and easy-going than what I'd normally search out in mysteries, but it ended up being a nice change of pace. I will say that the subplot was a bit predictable, but considering all of the high notes this book struck and the intrigue of the primary plot, that seems like a small note.

On the whole, I'd absolutely recommend it, and I'll probably be buying a few copies as gifts for light mystery readers I know!

49. Rise the Dark by Michael Koryta

Koryta's first Mark Novak book was the best thriller I'd read in a while--smart and immersive, atmospheric and masterfully written. And yet, I have to say... I think I liked this follow-up even more. I'm not sure if it would read so well for someone who hadn't gotten to know Novak in the first book in this series, Last Words, simply because it is so driven by the character's personal history, but I had a hard time putting this book down. I'd probably say it's on the literary side of thrillers, and may be more character-driven or slow-boiling than what some readers will prefer, but I thought it was a perfect mix of action, character, and suspense.

I don't know if the next book in this series, assuming there is one, will be out next year or ten years from now, but I'll be waiting for it, and reading all of Koryta's other work until then.

So, yes, I would absolutely recommend this for readers who want an intelligent, character-driven thriller with plenty of darkness to go around.

50. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

The beginning of this work really pulled me in, but as I kept going, I'm afraid I had a harder and harder time following the details and really engaging with it. It could be that I'd have loved this book in a different time and place, but as it was, there were moments I really enjoyed... but it just didn't keep a hold on me the way I needed it to, I suppose, because as much as I enjoyed the ideas and language, I'd often find my focus wandering away from the story and lose track of what was happening as a result. That's not normal for me when it comes to reading, and I'm inclined to say that there was just so much packed into this book, I couldn't quite relax into it and get engaged by the characters the way I'd have liked.

I'll try Stephenson again, and I may even try re-reading this book some day, but for now, it was just a so-so read for me.

51. Mira Corpora by Jeff Jackson

Holy, holy, holy strange, what a strange book. Billed as a coming-of-age story for people who don't like coming-of-age stories (which describes me, yes), this is a dark, playful book that's as fast-paced as it is lyrical. There are strains here of Denis Johnson and Cormac McCarthy, but the book itself is something else, peering into a world that one might hope would be drug-induced, but instead feels incendiary and real, as if you could too easily imagine it lurking on the edges of some city and sucking in passerby to suffer the consequences.

Jackson's world comes just short of being hallucinatory, but it is also accessable and careful, which makes for a read that's all the more frightening. I'll only off the one caveat... if you start reading, and you think it might be too much for you after the first few sections? Well, get out, because it's only going to get darker.

But, all that said... I loved reading this book, and experiencing this book, and taking the ride Jackson crafted in this little pink novel. This won't be for everyone, but I certainly recommend it.

52. Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea by Gary Kinder

This is a fascinating look back to the sinking of the SS Central America in 1857, and then to the recovery efforts made some 130 years later -- from the fascination with its treasure, to the hunt, and finally the development of technology that made recovery possible, as well as the people involved at each moment. Kinder's work is brilliantly crafted, with research that takes readers back to the California Gold Rush and the nearly 600 men and women who boarded the SS Central America, as well as the treasure that they and the craft were carrying and the tragedy that unfolded some 200 miles off of North Carolina. As noted on the book jacket, "It was the worst peacetime disaster at sea in American history, a tragedy that remained lost in legend for over a century."

Moving between the resent and the ship and the hurricane that it fell to in 1857, Kinder manages to bring 130 years' worth of history into sharp relief, examining human failings, human heroics, and science and technology with an expert eye that brings all of it to life. The result is a fascinating story which is as unbelievable as it is true, and utterly worthwhile.

Absolutely recommended.

>83 whitewavedarling: on my wishlist!

>84 Tess_W:, Definitely get around to it. It took me ages to, but I'm so glad I did!

Because I got a little way into it, and because I don't want other readers to waste their time, I'm sharing my review of The Book of Love and Hate by Lauren Sanders. I put it down in order to read reviews, and see if any of them would convince me to keep going... but, alas, they only confirmed that I should give up on it sooner than later.

Full Review:

This book sounded right up my alley... but it wasn't. I HATE not finishing books, but I just couldn't. I stopped at around page 60, and getting that far was a struggle.

Here's the thing--the plot is hard to follow, and the narrator is so incredibly entitled and unlikeable that I really couldn't get on board with her. Finally, the idea of 'listening' to her for another 250 pages was just too much to bear. Simply, there wasn't anything connecting me to the book or making me want to keep reading, even after 60 pages. On top of that, the writing felt uneven, and while that may have been a by-product of elevating the voice and stylizing the so-called plot, it made everything worse.

So, no, I couldn't make myself keep going. From the blurb, this still sounds like something I should love, but I'm afraid all it did was, at turns, either annoy me or put me to sleep.

53. Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King

I have to admit, I was expecting a bit more from this one. I love King's work, and have really thought some of his recent books to be among his best... but this felt rough for me. The characters were a little bit too familiar in some cases, and too flat in others. The plot itself also seemed to be lacking a bit of the depth I've come to expect from King.

Did I enjoy the story? Yes though the beginning was slow. Will I read the next one? Yes. Do I think it comes close to measuring up to most of King's other works? No, I really don't.

54. Dominion by Shane Arbuthnott

So, I actually put off reading this book because the blurb made it sound a bit... well, flat. And young. I don't read much MG fiction, and I really have to be in the mood for it, so this kept on getting pushed back on the stack. But then... I picked it up and I couldn't put it down.

First of all, I suppose I should note that it's hard for me to think of this as MG, and I'd say it straddles the line between MG and YA. The book has a ton of detail and depth, and the protagonist may only be 14, but I think readers of any age will be able to fall in love with her and go along for the adventure of the book. Once I got to page 40 or so, very simply, I had a hard time putting this one down. It kept surprising me with the directions it took, and I loved getting to know the characters.

Arbuthnott did a masterful job of creating characters we can believe in and relate to alongside a fascinating world that he builds beautifully, and I loved every minute of the journey. I only finished it a few days ago, but I've already passed my copy on to another reader, recommending it to more than one, and I can't wait to get on to the sequel.

For readers of sci-fi, fantasy, or adventure in the MG/YA world, this is a must-read... it's simply kind of wonderful and fun, and has an odd ring of truth to it, despite genre. I loved it.

55. The Girl in the Woods by Gregg Olsen

I read the third book in this series a while back after receiving an ARC for review, and really enjoyed it--enough that I had to pick up the earlier books. I didn't get Quite what I expected with this one, but I did really enjoy it.

The characters I felt a bit distanced from in the third book (having not read the earlier ones) came to life here, in this first installment of the series. From the beginning, I enjoyed every page of getting to know them, and found them sort of wonderfully believable. I might have liked a little bit more depth in a few of the more minor characters, but they still had depth enough to feel believable. As with the third book, the plot and the pacing were fast, intricate, and interesting--I never wanted to put the book down, and I was entertained and surprised on a rolling basis.

Where I was let down just a bit was in the writing. I remember being really engaged with the writing in the third book, but for whatever reason, it took me out of the story a few times here. I should say at this point that I'm a full-time editor, so a lot of things bother me which might not bother the average reader--and probably wouldn't have bothered me ten years ago, truth be told. But, be that as it may, there were a lot of points in this book where "head-hopping" distracted me, it happened so quickly, and also where 'telling' ('vs. showing') distracted me, to the point where I found myself wishing Olsen had had a better editor or copy-editor.

But, all that said, I enjoyed this book too much to not pick up the next Waterman & Stark thriller, and I'm already looking forward to it. So, yes, I'd absolutely recommend this series and Olsen on to any readers who want tightly wound suspense/thrillers!

56. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams

I think I would have loved this if I'd read it immediately after the first book in the series, but as it was, I had something of a hard time re-engaging with the characters, and could have used a bit more description or reminders from the first book. By about midway through the book, I found myself really enjoying it.... but it had taken me a while to get to that point.

I'd certainly recommend this to readers who enjoyed the first in the series, but with the caveat that it's best read soon after the first.

57. The Good German by Joseph Kanon

I first read this years ago when it first came out, and it was enough to make me a forever-fan of Kanon. Re-reading it this week only reminded me of why I loved the book so much the first time around--and that's coming from someone who almost never re-reads books!

Kanon's work is part mystery, part love story, part historical fiction, part thriller and espionage, and centered in Berlin in 1945 following WWII. Bringing to life the desperation and the destruction of the city, and various factions fighting for control of not just the city, but also its people and the story that history will tell, this is one of those books that has the capability of transporting a reader back in time. Kanon's balance of setting and suspense against character is masterful, and thus the book is incredibly difficult to put down.

Without a doubt, I'd recommend it to nearly anyone who enjoys historical drama, suspense, or mystery, or even simply historical fiction that deals with WWII. It's well worth the read.

58. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

I tried to read this when I was getting my Masters in English. Truly, I did. It was on a list of maybe a hundred books that I was supposed to read outside of classes and be prepared to talk about in an oral exam... and it was the only one I began, and simply couldn't finish. I got to page 26 before I gave up.

This year, I decided to try it again. After all, back when I tried it the first time, I was stressed and rushed, and surely some book or another would test my patience, so it had to be better than I'd thought back then. Right? Well, um, yeah... not really.

I understand this is a classic, and I even understand why. I'm glad to be able to say that I finally finished it. But that's about all I can say. This was a dry read, and one that I had a hard time getting through. Sprinkles of action didn't make up for the non-action or the style of the book, and although I rather like the idea of the story and wanted to enjoy this, I just couldn't. Unless you have to read it, I probably wouldn't recommend it.

>92 whitewavedarling: I'm with you that one! I have the audio and I listened to the entire thing, but had to keep rewinding and starting over.........dry

>93 Tess_W:, Yeah... I'm glad to be able to say I finally got through it, but... wow, what a slow read.

59. Finders Keepers by Stephen King

I have to admit that I'm not loving this series as much as I normally love King's work, BUT... I did enjoy this second installment quite a bit more than I enjoyed Mr. Mercedes, the first in the trilogy, and reading this work has actually left me really anxious to read the next work in the series. Here, the (new) characters were a bit more engaging and dynamic, and I simply got pulled into the story faster and harder than I did in the previous book. By the time I got to the halfway point, I was having a hard time putting it down, and I think I read the last 130 pages in a single sitting.

King's strategy to open this one up also really pulled me in--I'm normally not a fan of going back and forth in time to illuminate a story's start and characters, but it worked really well here, opening up a few different pieces of the puzzle at once. Readers who loved Hodges and the characters in the first book might be disappointed to find that they don't come into play until a good piece of this second book has passed by--at least, not in a major way--so that is the one caveat, but it really didn't bother me.

All told, I'd recommend it, and having read it, I'm probably more likely to recommend the book that comes before it, Mr. Mercedes.

60. Submissive Fairy Tales by Kitty Thomas

Thomas' writing is luscious, elegant, and incredibly erotic. She has a magic with words and story-telling that brings to life each story and character she approached, and this collection of three novellas was no different. For readers who like erotic writing or naughty fairy tales, you can't go wrong with this collection.

61. The Tower at Stony Wood by Patricia McKillip

I had a difficult time with this one. As much as I liked the idea of the story, the characters seemed to bleed together, and McKillip's style was--for me, at least--off-putting. It felt over-wrought and overly detailed, to the extent that it sometimes felt like the writing really hindered the story itself. I managed to make my way through the book, but I can't actually say I enjoyed it. There were moments when the story really shined, and when I really got caught up in a character... but, on the whole, I was sorely disappointed.

And two poetry collections:

62. Devastation by Jill Alexander Essbaum

It's difficult to review this chapbook simply because, while I enjoyed what was here, I wanted so much more. I'm not against a single long poetry sequence making up a chapbook--indeed, I believe that's why I bought this one, wanting to see some examples--but in this case, the poetry was so short, spread out, and ephemeral, that it just didn't have enough weight to it, and I was left wanting a great deal more. I'd certainly read a full collection of this author's work, but I'm not sure I'd pick up another chapbook.

and, much more satisfyingly...

63. Ardour by Nicole Brossard

This is one of those relatively short poetry books which is worth ten times its weight or word count. Brossard's words are both elegant and powerful, as gorgeous as they are thick with meaning. Among other snippets, from "Napes":

"in all of us there's a silence
that gallops on nights of sorrow

--

to be this body in the breakneck speed of the present
brushing against
grief when touching
the other's gestures and their petals
of memory and shimmering

and before the 'bad infinity'
we embrace without hesitation
to impress
the animal leap
an impassive glance
in our chests"

Simply, there's a beauty to this book, in its complete form, that I can't quite put into words. I'll read it again, and again, and pass it along to other poets if I can.

Absolutely recommended.

64. Envy: An Empty Coffin Novel by Gregg Olsen

I was excited to read this book, but I think it might have suffered for my having read Olsen's Waterman & Stark series. Compared to those books, I had a harder time engaging with the plot and characters here. I think part of it may have been the teenagers--they felt more like teenagers seen and written by a sympathetic adult than wholly believable teenagers if that makes sense. It wasn't so much that they weren't believable, as that they were a bit too neat in terms of character and feelings, whereas real teenagers are kind of a mess. (No offense meant to any teen who might be reading this lol--I was a mess when I was a teen, too!) Here, in other words, the characters were just a little bit too neat and easy, more like adults who hadn't graduated high school than teens if that makes sense, when it came to the two at the heart of the story. The other teens in the background felt more believable, but they were also little more than stereotypes because they were in the story so little--and that was fine because they really were only minor characters. But, all together, it led me to feel like the characters especially held back the first portion of the book for me.

By the time I got into the second portion of the book, the plot and the intrigue had me engaged, so I sped through the second half of the book pretty quickly. There was also a twist that was a really nice touch to what I'd expected to be a predictable book.

So, all told, I don't know if this series can hold its own against Olsen's other series, but in the end, I'm glad to have read it and I certainly plan on reading the next one. Now that the characters are established, it'll also be a lot easier to go into that one now that I know what to expect, so I expect to enjoy it even more.

65. White Fur by Jardine Libaire

Libaire's writing is graceful and creative in a way that feels effortless, and I enjoyed this far more than I've enjoyed a lot of other recent 'literary fiction' that I've read. At the same time, there's no doubt that the writing carries the story and the characters here, and I have to admit to feeling a bit let down and bored by the ending. I suppose that, in terms of story, I just kept waiting for something More... and that 'more' never quite came around.

Certainly, I'd read another book of Libaire's--one, anyway--though I think I'd prefer picking up a short story collection or even a poetry collection, based on the story and characters here, which I have to admit didn't keep my interest so much as I'd have liked, despite the fact that Libaire's writing kept me wanting to turn pages.

All told, I suppose I'd recommend this to readers who love beautiful writing above story, plot, and character, or who relish creative, elegant prose. It left me wanting more, but the writing itself was worth the read.

66. Leaving Berlin by Joseph Kanon

Kanon's historical fiction manages to bring to life the years following WWII, and his writing of Berlin in this work is outstanding. Leaving Berlin's blend of espionage, drama, and suspense makes for a powerful, page-turning read, and as always, Kanon's characters and gorgeous writing are masterful. This is certainly more espionage-heavy than some of his other historical fiction, so it's a slightly different type of reading and takes a bit more focus, but I couldn't put it down.

Absolutely recommended.

67. Ghost by Piers Anthony

Piers Anthony is one of those authors who made me fall in love with science fiction and fantasy as a teenager, and his strange blends of genre and character are something I absolutely adore about his writing. Yet, for me, this one didn't work so well as all those other works I've read from him, and came across as not just a bit dated, but somewhat messy and heavy. I'm inclined to think it might have been better if either shorter (and much less complicated) or quite a bit longer (and thus offered more depth), but as it was, I didn't enjoy it quite like I expected. Ghost offers a strange blend of hard sci-fi, metaphysical discussion, philosophy, and the paranormal... and altogether, that's quite a lot for this relatively slim work ('slim' in the world of sci-fi anyway).

It did bring me back to the wonder of reading Anthony and being fascinated by his worlds and characters, however, so I'm looking forward to revisiting works I loved when I was younger, and also some other works that I never got around to. I've never been one for hard sci-fi, so it may be that I just wasn't at all the right audience for this one, though I think it probably will feel somewhat dated (in terms of philosophy and gender and character, if nothing else) to many readers who encounter it.

All told, though, an interesting look at space-time travel, and probably worth the read simply for the way it blended that discussion against the paranormal, sci-fi, and philosophy.

68. The Broken Hearts Club by Ethan Black

This book had me wrapped up in it from the very beginning--although it felt a bit dated, I was so drawn into the characters and plot that I had a difficult time putting it down at all, and I'm already looking forward to reading more work by Black. If you like psychological thrillers and fast-paced, character-driven writing, I'd absolutely recommend this one. The one caveat to it is that it really does have something of a 90s feel, though even now I can't entirely put my finger on why. Still, I'd certainly recommend it.

69. Now That She's Gone by Gregg Olsen

I feel a bit like time disappears when I pick up Gregg Olsen's thrillers--especially these from the Waterman & Stark series. There are times when I wish they went a tiny bit slower, so that I could have more depth of character (because, admittedly, it's generally character-driven works that I love most), but the twists in his plots and the way he weaves separate stories together keep me enthralled, just the same. This one especially felt like a sort of puzzle being put together in front of my eyes, and I adored the reading experience. Would I like a tiny bit more depth in character and a slower pace sometimes? Absolutely. Will I keep reading these books regardless and love every minute? Again, absolutely.

Recommended to thriller readers--but do go in order with this series, unlike me!

70. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

This is a clever, amusing book, and Fforde's writing does a lovely job of bringing the world he creates to life and playing through the story. That said... for me, it was a bit too clever; for most of the book, I was pleasantly amused with how everything was playing out and coming together, but at the same time, I also felt slightly bored with it, as if too much of the book was wrapped up in being clever and smart, versus telling a good story. I never felt any real suspense, so that the speculative element of the work carried all of the weight of engagement, and there just wasn't enough for me to get really wrapped up in. So, I'm glad I finally tried this book, having heard about it for years, but I don't really see myself continuing with the series. It's cute, and it's very, very clever, but I'm afraid it's not for me.

71. Days of Panic by Jack Hunt

This is a fast-paced read, and most of the primary characters are believable and engaging, but it's also got some problems.

First of all, there's the cover... now, I can't be specific here without giving something away, but what I can say is that this is the first book I've ever read that manages to include a spoiler on the cover. As in, if you've looked at the cover, one of the big elements that could have offered suspense is gone--from the book, from the series. It's that simple. Considering the cover also almost scared me off by including the dog--and I'm one of those people who's always terrified of seeing an animal on a dark book's cover because I fear the animal won't make it--I have to say that this might be the biggest cover failure I've ever encountered, professional and impressive as it may be. It almost scared me off--and I'm certain it will scare some animal-loving readers off--and it also offers a spoiler. That's almost impressive.

Of course, I'm not going to judge the book entirely by the cover (even if the cover did affect my reading enjoyment), and now I've read the book. Honestly, the flaws are hard to get beyond. The main character is the least interesting and developed of the characters--he, more than any other, feels like nothing more than a stereotype, so it's good that there are plenty of main characters, as they made the read. The other big issue is pacing--the ending chapters feel insanely rushed, and there are some big flaws in terms of what gets prioritized, attention/space-wise. While most of the book is well-paced, the last 60-80 pages feel like a downhill roller coaster rushing by in a blur.

So, all told, it's hard to have a good feeling about this book. The premise and the characters were there, and the writing is pretty decent (though the lack of commas just about killed me, as an editor), but I wanted a lot more. I'd Need a lot more in order to want to continue with the series.

Re The Eyre Affair, I will say the series gets much more interesting. I actually read the fourth book in the series (Something Rotten) first and was quite disappointed when I went back to the The Eyre Affair.

>106 mabith:, That's good to know, because I really do like the concept. Maybe I'll browse through some of the blurbs for the later books and see if any strike me. Thanks!

72. Darkness Begins by Harley Tate

This is a pretty simple the-world-as-we-know-it-is-ending book--it's a fast, easy read. There are some timeline issues in the second half, where it would have made more sense to put certain chapters following different characters in a different order, and there are also some editing issues that editors like me will be driven a little crazy by (especially early in the book), but it's pretty clean and fast.

It's not, however, something with enough depth to really be more than a fast escape, and I'm afraid there wasn't nearly enough depth here to keep me interested enough to read further into the series or read more of Tate's work. I'm guessing that you probably wouldn't be mad at yourself for downloading it if you bought the ebook or picked it up as an escape read, but you'd probably also find it pretty forgettable and predictable.

So, no, I'm afraid it's not something I'd recommend.

73. Eragon by Christopher Paolini

This book has a lot of magic to it, from the very first chapter on throughout the adventure readers sign up for. Paolini's descriptions of dragons, and of the friendships that unfold throughout this book, are masterful, and well worth the read all by themselves. Although the story feels a bit more familiar toward the end of the book, and not quite as fresh as the earlier passages in the book, there's so much to love here that the book is difficult to describe. It goes beyond YA Fantasy to bring to life the sort of story that makes readers fall in love with fantasy.

Absolutely recommended.

74. The Fear Collector by Gregg Olsen

This felt really different from Olsen's other works, but once I got into it, I really enjoyed it. It almost reads like a mash-up of true crime and procedural, to where it feels like real life is bleeding into the fiction and vice versa. At first, my mind kept on wanting to know more about where the lines were blurred between fact and reality, but as I got further into the book my brain finally relaxed and just got twisted up with the story. I have a feeling that this will be most interesting (and slightly crazy-making) for readers like me who enjoy both the nonfiction history and the fictional stories surrounding serial killers, and I'm glad I picked it up. That said, if I were going to recommend an Olsen book to a reader who isn't yet familiar with his work, I'd probably point them to the Waterman and Stark series first.

Still, recommended. I really enjoyed the way this came together.

75. The Skeleton in the Closet by Angie Fox

This series is simply fun, and this second book made for a great installment. Fox's writing is fast-paced and humorous, the characters are engaging, and the stories are twisty-turny and interesting. I'm not generally a fan of 'cozies', but there's something about this series that just makes it kind of wonderful to sink into. And, plus, there's a pet skunk who's beautifully written, on top of ghosts who are in themselves pretty hilarious and scary, by turns.

So, yes, I'd absolutely recommend this series!

76. Jason by Laurell K. Hamilton

This is technically part of the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series, I suppose, but it's also a huge departure. While relationships always play a key part in these books, their plots normally revolve around some mystery, crime, etc. Here, Hamilton took a step sideways to produce a small book that's focused entirely on Anita's romantic entanglements and relationships. For readers who are long-time fans of the Anita Blake series, reactions will probably depend heavily on how invested they are in the personalities and relationships, vs. the action/mystery elements of the series. I imagine that readers of PNR who come to these books through that lens will find this a welcome departure, while others (like me) will be a little bit disappointed, but still invested enough in the characters to want to read the book.

Still, unlike some of the other books in the series, this definitely isn't one that should be read by itself. If you're a longtime follower of the series, you might well enjoy it with the above caveat, but if you've never read these books, this is not the one to try---it's more of an aberration in the series, and so heavily dependent on the reader already knowing the characters and being invested in them, it's just not a good entry point.

77. How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire by Kerrelyn Sparks

As a lighthearted, action-oriented paranormal romance, this is an easy read that's something of an enjoyable escape--I had a lot of fun getting to know the characters, and as I've discovered before, I kind of love Sparks' humor. That said, this doesn't stand up to Sparks' more recent books--and there's nothing wrong with that, obviously, since you'd expect an author to grow over the course of their career. The point to be noted here, though, is that readers of her more recent works might well be disappointed by the somewhat more simplistic story presented here, and I have a feeling I would have enjoyed this book quite a bit more if I hadn't had higher expectations because of reading her other (more recent) works.

So, yes, I certainly recommend it if you're looking for a fun and easy, action-oriented paranormal romance that's got plenty of humor. The one caveat is that, if you already are a fan of Kerrelyn Sparks, you'll want to temper your expectation. Hopefully, though, you haven't discovered her yet, so you'll have plenty to look forward to after this book, knowing her work has only gotten better over the years!

78. Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne

There's something rather charming and fantastic about this work, and in the way that Verne manages to bring to life characters in even such a fast-paced and simply told tale as this one. Certainly, the language is as dated as the narrative and the modes of transportation involved in Fogg's journey, but in an odd way, that feels to make it all the more fantastic and believable. Strange as that might be.

I don't think I would have had the patience for this tale when I was younger, so I'm glad to have finally gotten around to it now. Certainly, I'd recommend it.

79. S. by John Updike

I can admire what Updike did here, and I enjoyed the epistolary format (which really made the book, in my opinion), but I can't say that I felt this stood up to Updike's other works--or, those that I've read, anyway. It felt a little bit like a literary experiment, more than a book I could really engage with and enjoy, and it quickly became fairly predictable. I suppose it's something I might recommend to English majors and writers thinking to experiment in this territory, but otherwise, it's probably not something I'd recommend. It is what it is, and it's well done and beautifully written, but it's likely one I'll remember for the wrong reasons (in my opinion).

80. The Only Good Lawyer by Jeremiah Healy

This was my first time reading Jeremiah Healy, but it won't be the last. I can't remember when I last enjoyed a procedural so much. Healy's book kept me glued to the pages and developments nearly from the first page, and the fact that the book and the characters kept surprising me were only an added bonus. This was twisting, believable, and hugely engaging, and I can't wait to read the other books in the series.

Absolutely recommended.

81. Telephone Ringing in the Labyrinth by Adrienne Rich

Adrienne Rich's poems are always gorgeous, provocative, and striking. In this collection in particular, though, there's a sort of haunting quality to many of the works. The political element that comes into her poetry so often, and which makes for some of my favorite poems, is turned more toward personal revelation and struggle here, focused more on characters and situations which readers will find strangely available and familiar, less documentary in a larger sense as opposed to a relatable, if sometimes terrifying, personal sense.

This collection surprised me--it wasn't what I expected, based on other collections of Rich's I've read, and yet it was every inch her lyrical voice and elegantly dangerous, striking work.

For readers of poetry, or Rich, I absolutely recommend it.

82. 28: Stories of AIDS in Africa by Stephanie Nolen

Nolen's 28: Stories of AIDS in Africa is nothing short of incredible. Her approach, her writing, and her weaving of all of the material--personal, political, medical, cultural, environmental, local and global--are nothing short of impeccable. I've read many, many books (fiction and nonfiction) related to HIV/AIDS, many of them specifically connected to Africa and/or African writers, and this book eclipses all of them in nearly every way.

Nolen tells the stories of 28 individuals in Africa, all affected by AIDS, in order to weave a fuller picture of the disease and the factors complicating treatment, and even acknowledgement and diagnosis. In the process, she manages to write what is not just a powerful book which illustrates in 28 chapters the lives of 28 incredibly different people, living different lives in different countries, but a book which does more to paint a complete picture of this disease and related cultural territory than any book I've seen has even suggested. Delving into history, war and conflict, birth control, sex work, religion, politics, gender roles, civil rights, poverty, cultural appropriation, trade, environmental degredation, pharmaceuticals, and education (or lack thereof), Nolen does more in this book to paint a picture of the unfolding of AIDS, and its impact, than anything else I've seen.

And, beyond that, there are 28 stories here which she tells masterfully, bringing men, women, and children to life on each page of this work, and in a way that makes the issues she addresses that much easier to understand.

It is a difficult book to read, but it is also a book full of hope and community and determination. But, as Bono is quoted on the back cover: "This is a formidable book of record... from the tiny virus, via twenty-eight individual human stories, to an entire continent. The stories will tear you apart before putting you back together, fully armed and ready to go to war..."

You might be thinking this book is a bit dated, but the truth is that this book is an incredible and timely record of the way history, disease, and a thousand complicating factors unfolded into a crisis that is still going on. And, what's more, this is a book that actively works against apathy--you cannot read this and not understand why your hands and your voice matters in this world, and at a time when apathy and 'what can I do?' are echoing across the globe, I believe that's incredibly important.

I hope you find it, read it, and then pass it on to other readers. This is the kind of book we should all be reading.

83. The Tourist Trail by John Yunker

I might have avoided this book, had I understood the sort of eco-fiction it held, the beauty it would be mixing with heartbreak and terror, or the way it would bring me to tears over and over again. At the same time, I might have run toward it in a full-on sprint if I'd known how dangerous and beautiful and dark it would be.

Because the truth is that this book, for some people, will be inspiring enough that you might fear handing it to your children, just for fear of what good passion it might inspire. If I'd come across this book as a teenager, it might have offered a whole host of passion-inspired and well-meaning, environmentally driven damage to me turning into a semi-respectable creative. I'm both glad it didn't, and also wishing it also had. This book is one that actively works against apathy, and in fact pushes for a deeper and more careful understanding of commitment to activism.

The story is about passion, ecology, and men and women who embrace causes higher than themselves. It's heart-breaking, hard to swallow, dangerous, wonderful, and beautifully written.

Absolutely recommended, with the caveat that this exquisite book is often difficult to read, and impossible to look away from.

84. Kiss of Midnight by Lara Adrian

Getting into this book took some time, but I ended up really enjoying the world and characters that Adrian created. It was, I admit, predictable, and I would have liked a slower progression in the relationship at the center of the book, as well as a little less melodrama, but it was an easy read and a fun escape. I'll probably at least read the next book in the series and see how it goes. I'm not sure this stands up to the other series in this genre that I've come to really love, but I imagine most paranormal romance readers will enjoy it for what it is.

85. XIsle by Steve Augarde

This is a dark book. Dark enough, in fact, that it's probably the darkest YA dystopian I've read once all of the factors are added up, and there were some moments when I wondered how likely I'd ever be to tell a teenager about it. That said, it's also a good read, and compelling once it gets going.

On one hand, this is a sort of elevated version of Lord of the Flies--though this is a far better book, and much better written, in my opinion. On the other hand, there's some injustice in even saying that because Augarde creates such a complete and horrific world here. Maybe if Charles Dickens had come forward to write a dystopian, having thought of something like Lord of the Flies... that may be the better description. Because as dark as the situation is, as dark as some of the characters and horrors are... it's all sort of frightfully believable, and the descriptions, threats, and twists are turned around in such a way as to feel more adult... just like teens put into this book would feel far more adult and tortured than would be desired.

All told, I'm not sure I'd hand this book to a young reader, although the tone and characters and situations are exactly what one might expect from a YA Dystopian. Instead, I'd say this is more in line for adult fans of the genre, and perhaps mature young adults who'll have the patience for a book that takes as many cues from adult science fiction as from YA. Still, this book unsettled me, and I sometimes didn't want to turn the page to see what was coming, compelling as the read was... and that rarely happens when I read YA anything, so there's something to be said for that.

Recommended, with the above warnings in mind. This is darker than expected for this genre, and sometimes difficult to read.

86. White Pawn by Stevie J. Cole

I'm not sure what to say about this book. On one hand, it was an easy, dark escape that kept me turning pages. On the other hand, it wasn't remotely what I expected, and the writer needs to hire a good proofreader.

Cole's White Pawn is about obsession, and the dark turns love can take when paired with obsession, lust, and jealousy. It's more psychological suspense than romance, and more horror than steam. And while I don't think anyone would call the characters likeable, this book has the feeling of a train wreck because it's just that hard to look away from, predictable as it might be. (Though, I admit, I didn't expect it to get quite so dark as it did.)

So, if you want some horror paired with your romance, or vice versa, this might be an interesting read, but I'm not sure who I'd recommend it to, or if I could even really recommend it.

87. Daring the Moon by Sherrill Quinn

The beginning of this book was a rough read for me, and everything felt a little bit forced and over the top in terms of the story itself, but things smoothed out after about fifty pages, once the main characters came together. There were still some issues along the way--the paramount one being that everyone seemed to accept the reality of werewolves far too quickly and easily--but the writing and the story both got stronger as the book moved along. I think this is a book that only paranormal romance readers would enjoy, as there's not a whole lot to the story itself or to the suspense/mystery that's been pulled in beyond the relationship it sets off, but it wasn't a bad read overall. I definitely wanted and expected more suspense/mystery, given the description, so that threw off my expectations going into it, but it was a quick escape. I haven't decided yet whether or not I'll read the next book in the series.

88. Sweet Revenge by Rebecca Zanetti

I'm really enjoying this series, although this book has some of the same flaws as the first in the series. As other reviewers have said, Zanetti's got an incredible talent for balancing suspense against romance while keeping tension high. Maybe because she packs so much into the books, though, some details slip a bit... If a reader pays (critical) attention, there are tiny plot holes related to motivation and subplots. I'm not even sure I'd pick up on them if I weren't an editor, but with that being my job, I can't help but noticing and being annoyed by them. What bothers me a bit less (because I expect it of the genre at this point, I suspect), but what will probably bother more readers in the long run, is that the romances hinge on insta-lust/insta-love in a way that feels far less believable than the characters themselves. And, in a book where emotion and connection are so incredibly important on a page-by-page basis, that's somewhat hard to ignore.

Yet, despite its flaws, this book is hard to put down. Zanetti's characters are living, breathing entities that it's hard not to get wrapped up in, and the suspense elements are twisty enough that, especially if you have a hard time putting these books down (as I do), they move so quickly that the turns and moves in plot can easily take you by surprise, even if they might seem slightly predictable in hindsight--'in hindsight' being key there, of course.

So, overall, yes, I'd absolutely recommend this series to readers of romantic suspense. But, make sure you start with the first book--with this series, it definitely matters, though I think this second in the series actually outshines it.

89. Beasts of No Nation by Uzodinma Iweala

I can appreciate the stylistic choices and moves that caught the attention of award committees and reviewers with this book, as well as the talent it took to run with such choices and build a story such as this one. Similarly, I can appreciate the ways in which this book builds upon and engages with other notable African authors such as Chinua Achebe, Amos Tutuola, and Wole Soyinka--though my favorite African authors are the (in my opinion) more subtle Sindiwe Magona and Chimamanda Adichie. Yet, I cannot say I actually enjoyed this book.

Iweala is clearly an engaging and talented writer, but the story here felt so familiar--partly because of all of the nonfiction I've read related to child soldiers--that it never truly affected or surprised me. That's a horrible thing to say, especially with a book like this, but it's true. For a reader more inclined to experimental styles/language, and less widely read in African literature, this could well be an incredibly powerful book that outshines other works covering the same territory. For me, I fear it felt more like an experiment that read as an experiment, as opposed to taking on the life of a story.

>124 whitewavedarling: This was a completely horrifying Netflix movie - I didn't realize it was based on a book. Very interesting review.

>125 jfetting:, and I didn't realize it had become a movie! Now I'm curious...

Meanwhile, as I continue catching up on reviews...

90. Dark Rooms by Lili Anoli

I'd so looked forward to reading this book, but the problems only mounted and snowballed one upon another as I kept going with it.

The first problem was a lack of suspense--what turned out to be the mystery didn't seem to be a mystery at all in the beginning, so that I spent 70 or so pages wondering what genre I was reading, and where/when the suspense would even come into play. The fact that the narrator wasn't particularly likeable or engaging didn't help. Soon after the mystery became understood, though, other problems became more prominent. The narrator and those around her would reach conclusions that didn't make sense based on the book itself and the known facts--they made sense based on what the author was clearly building toward, but not based on the facts. I don't really mind characters jumping to conclusions (people do jump to conclusions, after all), and I don't mind characters being of only average intelligence (not all people are so smart as the average mystery protagonist, after all), and I don't even mind an occasional coincidence if it doesn't seem to come out of left field. BUT, when you have characters (that's right, plural, characters) jumping to the correct conclusion over and over again, without any apparent reason to do so except for the fact that the author hasn't bothered to include enough steps to allow them to reach logical conclusions and uncover mysteries, beyond just knowing them, AND all of the primary characters are a bit dumb and a bit boring, AND there are a fair number of coincidences... well, let's just say that I'm less than interested.

The funny thing is, I kept reading because I wanted to know the answer to the mystery, but it turned out that the author had a lot more fun flinging up red herrings that meant absolutely nothing, and pulling together soap-opera-type drama to the extent that it became more laughable than believable, than plotting what might have been a really enjoyable novel.

So, no, I don't recommend this book, and I won't be reading anything else by Anolik. This could have been a good book, based on the bare bones plot. Instead, it was needlessly complicated and still, somehow, not all that interesting.