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1literarytiger
Well, I have come in here a bit late, and started slowly but there is nothing like a challenge! It's 1.30 in the morning here in the UK and I have just finished book 1...
Book 1: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: Mortal Wounds by Max Allan Collins Actually, three books in one (although I am not counting them as such!) Based on the TV series, these were three stories I didn't know, despite being a die hard CSI fan. Really interesting read although my imagination was obviously limited because I already had the characters' faces in my head.
Book 1: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: Mortal Wounds by Max Allan Collins Actually, three books in one (although I am not counting them as such!) Based on the TV series, these were three stories I didn't know, despite being a die hard CSI fan. Really interesting read although my imagination was obviously limited because I already had the characters' faces in my head.
2kiteflyer First Message
I have finished a couple of books so far this 2008, but I haven't kept track of them, so I guess I'll have to start from the beginning for the 75 books for 2008. I'm reading Beverly Barton's new book.
3literarytiger
Never mind, kiteflyer, nothing like a challenge to try and catch up with everyone!
Book 2: Along Came a Spider by James Patterson. This is the first Alex Cross book I have read and I loved it. I just bought the series of Alex Cross novels so I have started from the beginning...
Book 2: Along Came a Spider by James Patterson. This is the first Alex Cross book I have read and I loved it. I just bought the series of Alex Cross novels so I have started from the beginning...
4literarytiger
Book 3: Kiss The Girls by James Patterson
Not as good as the first one but still gripping enough to get through. I am going to give Alex Cross a bit of a rest now though!
Not as good as the first one but still gripping enough to get through. I am going to give Alex Cross a bit of a rest now though!
5literarytiger
Book 4: The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly - a fantastic read which I tore my way through in 3 days. Its the first time since I joined my book club that we have had a thriller to read and I just loved it!
Book 5: If My Father Loved Me by Rosie Thomas - and in complete contrast, this slowed me down to snail's pace. I don't really like 'family discovery' books at the best of times and I found this long and slow. if I hadn't got half way in and not wanted to let good reading time go to waste I would have left it and not finished it, but I persevered to make it book 5.
Book 5: If My Father Loved Me by Rosie Thomas - and in complete contrast, this slowed me down to snail's pace. I don't really like 'family discovery' books at the best of times and I found this long and slow. if I hadn't got half way in and not wanted to let good reading time go to waste I would have left it and not finished it, but I persevered to make it book 5.
6literarytiger
Book 6: A Long Long Way by Sebastian Barry - tragic, as all World War I novels generally are, but nevertheless a book of pure poetry.
Goodness me, I have slowed down! Spending far too much time online and not enough with my nose in a book.
Goodness me, I have slowed down! Spending far too much time online and not enough with my nose in a book.
7literarytiger
Book 7: Get Into Bed With Google by Jon Smith - I feel like I am cheating a bit with this book because it was so short and only took me about three hours to read, but it's still a book...and I still read it.
Book 8: Regeneration by Pat Barker - for the 888 Challenge one of my categories is books with WWI as the theme. I am so into them now, that I suspect I am going to read all 8 in a row...
Book 8: Regeneration by Pat Barker - for the 888 Challenge one of my categories is books with WWI as the theme. I am so into them now, that I suspect I am going to read all 8 in a row...
8literarytiger
Book 9: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. An incredible account of World War I which I think should be mandatory reading for anyone who has ever seen war as a good thing. I was speechless when I finished it.
9alcottacre
#8: I agree completely about All Quiet on the Western Front. I read it not long ago myself and wondered how I could have missed this classic in my reading. It was interesting reading it in juxtaposition with another classic about WWI, John Dos Passos' Three Soldiers.
10literarytiger
I have not heard of Three Soldiers...must look that one up too.
Book 10: A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway. An interesting, very different book to All Quiet. Detached, childlike and sad.
Book 11: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. A bit of a deviation from my current war theme but it was one of my reading group books so, despite having read it before I was happy to reread it.
Book 10: A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway. An interesting, very different book to All Quiet. Detached, childlike and sad.
Book 11: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. A bit of a deviation from my current war theme but it was one of my reading group books so, despite having read it before I was happy to reread it.
11literarytiger
Book 12: Plea of Insanity by Jilliane Hoffman. A thinking courtroom drama which is as focused on the tragedy of schizophrenia as it is on the action.
Book 13: Why People Believe Weird Things by Michael Shermer. I love the whole area of scepticism and I enjoy reading about science and this was a fascinating mix of the two.
Book 13: Why People Believe Weird Things by Michael Shermer. I love the whole area of scepticism and I enjoy reading about science and this was a fascinating mix of the two.
12literarytiger
Goodness, it has been WAY too long since I have been here!
Book 14: SHAM by Steve Salerno. Quite a scary exploration into how the self-help movement has made America helpless. It looks at the question which I always wonder about - if self-help books were effective, why would you ever need to buy more than one of them?
Book 15: A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. I liked this so much, I am now contemplating going back to university to do yet another degree - this one in science!
Book 16: Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome. A book written in Victorian times which made me laugh out loud. I defy you to read the pineapple chunks episode without raising a smile.
Book 17: Child 44 - Tom Rob Smith. A particularly disturbing thriller which was difficult to put down but ended with a bit of a fizz.
Book 18: Letters From a Lost Generation by Vera Brittain. I had to stop this book halfway because I was crying so much and leave it for a day or so before I could finish it.
Book 19: Quirkology by Richard Wiseman - a much more lighthearted read examining the quirks of human psychology.
Book 20: Down to a Sunless Sea by Mathias B. Freese - a book of rather disturbing yet thought provoking short stories.
Phew! That should do for this month I hope.
Book 14: SHAM by Steve Salerno. Quite a scary exploration into how the self-help movement has made America helpless. It looks at the question which I always wonder about - if self-help books were effective, why would you ever need to buy more than one of them?
Book 15: A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. I liked this so much, I am now contemplating going back to university to do yet another degree - this one in science!
Book 16: Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome. A book written in Victorian times which made me laugh out loud. I defy you to read the pineapple chunks episode without raising a smile.
Book 17: Child 44 - Tom Rob Smith. A particularly disturbing thriller which was difficult to put down but ended with a bit of a fizz.
Book 18: Letters From a Lost Generation by Vera Brittain. I had to stop this book halfway because I was crying so much and leave it for a day or so before I could finish it.
Book 19: Quirkology by Richard Wiseman - a much more lighthearted read examining the quirks of human psychology.
Book 20: Down to a Sunless Sea by Mathias B. Freese - a book of rather disturbing yet thought provoking short stories.
Phew! That should do for this month I hope.
13dihiba
I had planned to read Three Men in a Boat soon. Think it's going to move closer to the top of my TBR pile!
14literarytiger
This one a month thing seems to be becoming a rather bad habit of mine. However I have still been reading hard. Have been bogged down over the past couple of weeks with two books I had been asked to review - one fantastic, one truly awful. It was a relief to finally close the cover of the latest one and get on with something a bit more interesting!
Book 21:In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. The first ever true crime novel and a pretty chilling one at that. However, it was written in such a thorough journalistic way, it was truly fascinating (does that mean I am really morbid?)
Book 22: Breakfast at Tiffanys by Truman Capote. A very different book containing four stories in total which I really enjoyed.
Book 23: The Gone Away World by Nick Harkaway. My first ever foray into speculative fiction and I absolutely loved it. It was so difficult to put down (despite being more than 500 pages long) and I needed a great book to follow it up....but...
Book 24: The Collector of Worlds by Iliya Troyanov. Argh, this was truly awful. I received it as an Early Reviewer, and it was so dense, dull and unnecessarily wordy that I almost gave up the will to live trying to finish it. At more than 450 pages, it could have done with a serious edit job.
After that experience, I am after something light!
Book 21:In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. The first ever true crime novel and a pretty chilling one at that. However, it was written in such a thorough journalistic way, it was truly fascinating (does that mean I am really morbid?)
Book 22: Breakfast at Tiffanys by Truman Capote. A very different book containing four stories in total which I really enjoyed.
Book 23: The Gone Away World by Nick Harkaway. My first ever foray into speculative fiction and I absolutely loved it. It was so difficult to put down (despite being more than 500 pages long) and I needed a great book to follow it up....but...
Book 24: The Collector of Worlds by Iliya Troyanov. Argh, this was truly awful. I received it as an Early Reviewer, and it was so dense, dull and unnecessarily wordy that I almost gave up the will to live trying to finish it. At more than 450 pages, it could have done with a serious edit job.
After that experience, I am after something light!
15drneutron
Hmmm. The Gone Away World sounds really good. I'll have to keep an eye out for it. If you want a few recommendations on speculative fiction, let me know...
In Cold Blood is awesome too!
In Cold Blood is awesome too!
16mgreenla
>24
Funny, I mis-parsed "World" as "Words", given your comments that would have been a much better title.
Funny, I mis-parsed "World" as "Words", given your comments that would have been a much better title.
17blackdogbooks
Hello Tigertwo,
Been looking at your thread here and took a quick detour to The Gone Away World to see if I would like it. It looks very intereseting and I will have to put it on my list of books to look for. Iread your review there and it looks like you and a couple of others got the book for review. Was this an ER book?
I noticed you finished All Quiet on the Western Front. I have that up next on my cue when I finish the two books I'm reading now. TrishNYC's comments moved it up on my TBR list and I am quite looking forward to it. You seemed to have enjoyed it a great deal, too.
I tried In Cold Blood a couple of years ago and just couldn't connect with it. I have since read the Breakfast at Tiffanys collection. I read a good bit of true crime but just never could get through In Cold Blood. I'll have to try it again.
Been looking at your thread here and took a quick detour to The Gone Away World to see if I would like it. It looks very intereseting and I will have to put it on my list of books to look for. Iread your review there and it looks like you and a couple of others got the book for review. Was this an ER book?
I noticed you finished All Quiet on the Western Front. I have that up next on my cue when I finish the two books I'm reading now. TrishNYC's comments moved it up on my TBR list and I am quite looking forward to it. You seemed to have enjoyed it a great deal, too.
I tried In Cold Blood a couple of years ago and just couldn't connect with it. I have since read the Breakfast at Tiffanys collection. I read a good bit of true crime but just never could get through In Cold Blood. I'll have to try it again.
18literarytiger
Time keeps flying :-( I have had a huge upheaval at work, so I am now commuting to London each day. You would think that would mean I would get more books read, wouldn't you? But no...I am 10 times as tired now.
But, I have finished...
Book 25: The Righteous Men by Sam Bourne - a Da Vinci Code wannabe without the page-turning thrill. Ho hum...
Book 26: Jack and Jill by James Patterson - he churns them out at about a book a month, which makes them pretty easy to read. Not sure where he can go after this one (a double murder and a dead President) but seeing this is only book 3 of the series, I am sure I will find out!
Book 27: The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan - truly magnificent. There isn't much more to say about this.
Book 28: The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai - fabulous in a literary sense, as you would expect a Booker Prize winner to be. But maybe it was a little too literary and not enough story?
Book 29: Charlatan: The Fraudulent Life of John Brinkley by Pope Brock - if you love goats, don't read this book. But it is a truly fascinating, journalistic history of one of the biggest quacks the USA has ever seen.
Book 30: The Food of Love by Anthony Capella - a delightful romance with a happy ending.
Book 31: Copper Fire by Suzanne Woods Fisher - another book which I was asked to review on my blog. It was a pleasant, easy going story with lovely characters but the ending could have been stronger.
Not even halfway through yet :( I had better get reading.
But, I have finished...
Book 25: The Righteous Men by Sam Bourne - a Da Vinci Code wannabe without the page-turning thrill. Ho hum...
Book 26: Jack and Jill by James Patterson - he churns them out at about a book a month, which makes them pretty easy to read. Not sure where he can go after this one (a double murder and a dead President) but seeing this is only book 3 of the series, I am sure I will find out!
Book 27: The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan - truly magnificent. There isn't much more to say about this.
Book 28: The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai - fabulous in a literary sense, as you would expect a Booker Prize winner to be. But maybe it was a little too literary and not enough story?
Book 29: Charlatan: The Fraudulent Life of John Brinkley by Pope Brock - if you love goats, don't read this book. But it is a truly fascinating, journalistic history of one of the biggest quacks the USA has ever seen.
Book 30: The Food of Love by Anthony Capella - a delightful romance with a happy ending.
Book 31: Copper Fire by Suzanne Woods Fisher - another book which I was asked to review on my blog. It was a pleasant, easy going story with lovely characters but the ending could have been stronger.
Not even halfway through yet :( I had better get reading.
20alcottacre
tigertwo: I read Charlatan earlier in the year because I had seen it recommended on another thread, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It definitely proved P.T. Barnum's maxim of "There's a sucker born every minute."
21blondierocket
I'm reading the Alex Cross series as well. I am only as far as you are but I keep hearing that they get better and a lot more happens, so hopefully they don't become too predictable.
