Joeinma's 165 book challenge for 2010

After reading 151 in '08 and 179 in '09, I am going to shoot for something in the middle for 2010.

#1 - Blindfold Game - Dana Stabenow

#2 - China Sea: A Dan Lenson Novel - David Poyer

Off to slow start, had 6 books read in 6 days to start last year off thanks to vacation.

#3 - The Death Trust - David Rollins

#4 - Capitol Conspiracy - William Bernhardt

# 5 - The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power - Jeff Sharlet

#6 - Gator a-go-go - Tim Dorsey

#7 - Altar of Eden - James Rollins

#8 - I Am America (and so can you!) - Stephen Colbert

Oh, I do love I Am America! Everything about it cracks me up, right from the title. I hope you liked it too.

I did like I Am America, I am a big fan of Stephen Colbert

#9 - Diamondhead - Patrick Robinson

#10 - The Bone Chamber - Robin Burcell

#11 - A Knife Edge - David Rollins

#12 - Free Agent - Jeremy Duns

#13 - The Killing Ground - Jack Higgins

#14 - A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Read - William Rabkin

#15 - The Sea - John Banville

#16 - The Birthing House - Christopher Ransom

#17 - Capitol Offense - William Bernhardt

#18 - On Beauty - Zadie Smith

#19 - The Purloined Letter - Edgar Allan Poe

Hard time calling this a "book", but it is on the 1001 books to read before you die list, so book it is!

I had the same issue last year - I read the three Poe "books" that were on the 1001 list in just an hour or two! Made me feel good about my progress on the 1001 list, though. :)

Of course, in the new version of the list, The Purloined Letter has been removed. So I guess since about 20 of the 80 I have read, are on the removed list, I am working on the "1200 books to read", since I am working on the list and the 200 or so books that were removed.

#20 - The UnDead Kama Sutra - Mario Acevedo

And isn't there a 2010 edition coming out? I wonder what changes will be made this time around.

I have to say, #20, that's an excellent title.

#21 - Mr. Monk and the Dirty Cop - Lee Goldberg

#22 - All Souls Day - Cees Nooteboom

#23 - Ground Zero: A Repairman Jack Novel - F. Paul Wilson

#24 - The Berlin Conspiracy - Tom Gabbay

#25 - The Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco A "1001 Books to Read Before you Die" book.

#26 - Mr. Monk in Trouble - Lee Goldberg

#27 - Animal's People - Indra Sinha

#28 - Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union - David Swanson

#29 - Rough Justice - Jack Higgins

#30 - Schindler's List - Thomas Keneally

#31 - 2666 - Roberto Bolano

#32 - The Sign - Raymond Khoury

#33 - The Genesis Secret - Tom Knox

#34 - One Second After - William R. Forstchen

#35 - Money to Burn - James Grippando

36 - The Golden Orange - Joseph Wambaugh

#37 - A Trace of Smoke - Rebecca Cantrell

#38 - For Whom the Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemingway

#39 - The Lucifer Gospel - Paul Christopher

#40- One Good Dog - Susan Wilson

#41 - The First Rule - Robert Crais

#42 - Capitol Betrayal - William Bernhardt

#43 - Where the Dead Lay - David Levien

#44 - The Moses Stone - James Becker

#45 - Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America - John Avlon

#46 - Island of Betrayal - Alan L. Moss

#47 - Definitely Dead - Charlaine Harris

#48 - The Bone Thief - Jefferson Bass

#49 - Horns - Joe Hill

Oh, did you like Horns? I'm tempted by it at the bookshop, I rather enjoyed Heart-Shaped Box (although I had to sleep with the lights on for several nights afterwards, call me a wuss).

Horns was good, but not really that scary. I have Heart-Shaped Box to read also, plus 20th Century Ghosts.

#50 - 40 More Years: How The Democrats Will Rule the Next Generation - James Carville

#51- Speak of the Devil - Richard Hawke

#49> Maybe Heart-Shaped Box isn't that scary, I don't read much horror at all because I am a COMPLETE WUSS when it comes to things that go bump in the night. For example, I had to sleep with the lights on for several nights after seeing "The Sixth Sense". This is not the usual reaction, I've been told. But I enjoyed the book, found it a page-turner, and was suitably nervous in the dark for some time after. I'll give Horns a try one day, thanks for the comments!

#52 Heart-Shaped Box - Joe Hill

It was definitely a page turner wookie, and was more of a true "horror" book then Horns was. I have read the first 4 short stories in Hill's 20th Century Ghosts and it's pretty good too. Mostly short stories that were published in magazines, etc.

#53 - The Broken Blue Line - Connie Dial

#54 - Lemons Never Lie - Richard Stark A Hard Case Crime book.

#55 - Execution Channel - Ken Macleod

#56 - The Silent Sea - Clive Cussler

#57 - The Last Quarry - Max Allan Collins - A Hard Case Crime book.

#58 - Hitler's War - Harry Turtledove

#59 - Game Change - John Heilemann and Mark Halperin

#60 - The Man with the Iron Heart - Harry Turtledove

#61 - Storm Front - Jim Butcher

Is Storm Front your first Dresden Case File? Or a re-read?

I do enjoy the Dresden books, they're immensely readable and fun and great page-turners.

I've been keeping my eyes open for Game Change - I've seen reviews in the papers, but no sign of it in my local bookshops! I may have to get it ordered in...

It was my first one Wookie. It was pretty good and have already put the 2nd book in the series on hold at the library.

#62 - Eye of the Red Tsar - Sam Eastland

#63 - 1942 - Robert Conroy

#64 - The Guns of Heaven - Pate Hamill

#65 - 1901 - Robert Conroy

#66 - All Together Dead - Charlaine Harris

#67 - Fool Moon - Jim Butcher

#68 - The Midnight House - Alex Berenson

#69 - Dog On It - Spencer Quinn

#70 - The Dark Matter - Peter Straub

#71 - Matterhorn - Karl Marlantes

#72 - The Darkness - Jason Pinter

Been a while since I posted a book, was lazy on vacation and barely read as it was too hot on the beach in Aruba!

#73 - Dead Street - Mickey Spillane

#74 - Blue Blood - Edward Conlon

#75 - Days of Infamy - Harry Turtledove

#76 -Frankenstein: Prodigal Son

#77 - Over the Cliff: How Obama's Election Drove the American Right Insane - John Amato and David Neiwert

#78 - American Subversive - David Goodwillie

#79 - Executive Intent - Dale Brown

#80 - Dead Men's Dust - Matt Hilton

#81 - Shooting Star - Robert Bloch

#82 - The Surgeon - Tess Gerritsen

#83 - Cold Day in Hell - Richard Hawke

#84 - The Apprentice - Tess Gerritsen

#85 - No Mercy - Lori Armstrong

#86 - Hot Mahogany - Stuart Woods

#87 - Mariposa - Greg Bear

#88 - War - Sebastian Junger

#89 - Spiderweb- Robert Bloch

#90 - The Sinner - Tess Gerritsen

#91 -The Cobra - Frederick Forsyth

#92 - Broken - Karen Slaughter

#93 - Florida Roadkill - Tim Dorsey

#94 - The Rule of Nine - Steve Martini

#95 - Shoot to Thrill - P. J. Tracy

#96 - Frankenstein: City of Night - Dean Koontz

#97 - End of the Beginning - Harry Turtledove

#98 - Frankenstein: Dead and Alive - Dean Kootz

#99 - Body Double - Tess Gerritsen

#100 -Hammerhead Ranch Hotel Tim Dorsey

#101 - Medium Raw - Anthony Bourdain

#102 - In the Company of Soldiers - Rock Atkinson

#103 - Foreign Influence - Brad Thor

#104 - Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - Douglas Adams

#105 - The Passage- David Poyer

Congrats on reaching 100! I hope you liked Dirk Gently as much as I did.

Wow! 100 already! Congratulations from me too!

Thanks for the props. I'm actually behind last years pace. I did enjoy Dirk Genty.

#106 - 5 Greatest Warriors - Matthew Reilly

#107 - The Lost Temple - Tom Harper

#108 - The Jungle - Upton Sinclair

#109 - The Alexander Cipher - Will Adams

#110 - The Contest - Matthew Reilly

#110 - Contest - Matthew Reilly

#111 - The Night Monster - James Swain

#112 - The Capitol Game - Brian Haig

#113 - From Dead to Worse - Charlaine Harris

#114 - The Murderer Vine - Shepard Rifkin

#115 - The Promise: President Obama, Year One - Jonathan Alter

#116 - Vanished - Joseph Finder

#117 - Trouble - Jesse Kellerman

#118 - Toxic Talk - Bill Press

#119 - Pressure Point - Dick Couch

#120 - Pirate Latitudes - Michael Crichton

#121 - Somebody Owes Me Money - Donald E. Westlake

#122 - Stuff to Spy For - Don Bruns

#123 - The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett

#124 - Baja Florida - Bob Morris

#125 - The Mullah's Storm - Thomas W. Young

#126 - 1945 - Robert Conroy

#127 - Dead and Gone - Charlaine Harris

#128 - Orange Crush - Tim Dorsey

#129 - The Atlantis Revelation - Thomas Greanias

#130 - Grave Peril - Jim Butcher

#131 - Seven Mile Beach - Tom Gilling

#132 - The Pulse - Jeremy Robinson

#133 - The Network - Jason Elliot

#134 - Level 26: Dark Origins - Anthony E. Zuiker and Duane Swierczynsi

#135 - Total Control - David Baldacci

#136 - Opening Atlantis - Harry Turtledove

#137 - Thereby Hangs a Tail - Spencer Quinn

#138 - The War that Came Early: West and East - Harry Turtledove

#139 - Mr. Monk is Cleaned Out - Lee Goldberg

#140 - American Assassin - Vince Flynn

#141 - Intercept - Patrick Robinson

#142 - Rules of Betrayal- Christopher Reich

#143 - Fall of Giants - Ken Follett

#144 - The Confirmation Ralph Reed

#145 - Killer Politics: How Big Money and Bad Politics Are Destroying the Great American Middle Class - Ed Schultz

#146 - Heat Wave - Richard Castle

#147 - Tears of a Clown - Dana Milbank

#148 - The Boys of Pointe Du Hoc : Ronald Reagan, D-Day, and the U.S. Army 2nd Ranger Battalion - Douglas Brinkley

#149 - The Panic Zone - Rick Mofina

#150 - Shadow Pass - Sam Eastland

#152> I love how they've brought out Richard Castle's Nikki Heat books, I must track down a copy locally - the tv show's a lot of fun.

#151 - House Justice - Mike Lawson

#152 - The Athena Project - Brad Thor

#153 - The Passage - Justin Cronin

What did you think of The Passage?

I had mixed thoughts on it...would give it a one and a quarter thumbs up. Premise was good, but felt the book was a lot longer then it needed to be and that after 700+ pages, the ending left me saying "that's the end, are there pages missing?"

#154 - Black Water Rising - Attica Locke

#155 - Dark Horse - Ralph Reed

#162> Aren't there two more books to go? Maybe that's why the ending didn't wrap up.

Didn't realize it was a trilogy. That explains the weird ending! Thanks Wookie!

Just reviewed by books for the year and noticed I only read 10 books from the "1001 books to read before you die" list. Slacking! My goal for my 2011 100 Book challenge is going to be to focus mainly on that list. Right now I have only read 90 of the 1001 and 17 of those were on the 2006 1001 list of 282 books that were REMOVED from the 1001 list in 2008.

So out of the 1001 + 282 removed books, I have 7% read, that's pitiful. At my current age, I would have to read 45.37 a year to read the whole list.

#156 - Hell Island Matthew Reilly

#157 - The Atlantis Code - Charles Brokaw

#167> I'm in the same boat - had a number of the classics from the "1001" list under my belt, and made good headway for the first year or so. But then have slowed down, and my goal of 200(ish) seems to keep on slipping away, especially since they took out a whole lot I'd read! (I was never crazy enough to aim for the whole 1001.)

I think you can still count them, even if they were removed. So long as you read 1001 (!!!) of the books regardless of editions (it's about 1281 or so now, isn't it?), you'll be doing *brilliantly*.

Next year, I shall read more "1001" books.

I hear you wookie...if I head 1001 of the 1281 books, that's good enough to count! As it is, by time I get, if I get, to 1001, the list will be changed again, and again and again!LOL!

#158 - The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid A 1001 book.

#159 - Third World America - Arianna Huffington

#160 - Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Another from the 1001 list.

5 books left to reach my goal for the year, with 17 days to go. Going to be close!

Good luck!

Did you like the Adichie novel? I've heard good things, but it's been languishing on my shelves for far too long now...

I did enjoy it Wookie.

#161 - The Emperor's Tomb - Steve Berry

#162 - Carry Me Down - M. J. Hyland, another 1001 book.

#163 - Falling Man - Don DeLillo

You're doing well on the 1001 books, because I believe Falling Man is one too.

Both that and Carry Me Down are on the shelves here somewhere, unread. Must rectify that. One day.

#164 - Money to Burn - Ricardo Piglia

#165 - Dead or Alive - Tom Clancy

#166 - Amerika - Franz Kafka

This is most likely my last book of the year. Finish +1 over my goal!

Congratulations! A mighty fine goal, too!

Thanks Wookie!