100booksayear (original) (raw)
I managed thirteen books this month. A mixed bag with a couple of disappointments, some fun genre books and three outstanding novels. Links in each short summery lead to fuller reviews in my book journal. Book 3 was audio only, so not counted towards my final goal.
Book 1: Too Close to Home by Linwood Barclay, 2008. 342 pages. The Cutter family lives are shattered when their next door neighbours are gunned down in their home. One of those nightmarish thrillers where everything that can go wrong does. Undemanding page-turner. My review here.
Book 2: Dracula the Undead by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt, 2009. 424 pages. Official sequel to Bram Stoker's classic 1897 novel Dracula, set in 1912, twenty-five years after Van Helsing and his allies reduced Dracula to dust. Not destined to be a classic though certainly a labour of love. My review here.
Book 3: Wideacre (Book 1 in the Wideacre Trilogy) by Philippa Gregory, 1987. Unabridged Audio. The adventures of the racy Miss Beatrice Lacey set in mid-18th century England. Addictive. My review here.
Book 4: Silent Scream (Anna Travis Book 5) by Lynda la Plante, 2009. 515 pages. An excellent British police procedural. My review here.
Book 5: From Bauhaus to Our House by Tom Wolfe, 1981. 143 pages. A tirade against the Bauhaus School and its influence on modern American architecture. Disappointing and dated. My review here.
Book 6: Captain Alatriste by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, 1996. Translated from the Spanish by Margaret Sayers Peden, 2005. 253 pages and Book 7: Purity of Blood (Captain Alatriste Book 2) by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, 1997. Translated from the Spanish by Margaret Sayers Peden, 2006. 267 pages. The first two swashbuckling adventures of Captain Alatriste set in early 17th century Spain. Delightful fun.
Book 8: The Third Heaven Conspiracy (US Title: The Mosaic Crimes) by Giulio Leoni, 2004. Translated from the Italian by Anne Milano Appel, 2007. 323 pages. A fairly effective medieval whodunit featuring Dante Alighieri. My reviews of Books 6-8 here.
Book 9: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas: a Fable by John Boyne, 2006. 214 pages. One of those books that everyone seemed to love except me. Here is why - my review here.
Book 10: Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie, 2009. 369 pages. A powerful epic novel weaving together a few key events from the bombing of Nagasaki to the aftermath of 9/11. One of the best novels I've read for some time. My review here.
Book 11: I am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe, 2004. 676 pages. A bit of a hit and miss satire on modern university life. Dragged some but title character carried it for me. My review here.
Book 12: The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite (US Title: The Glimmer Palace) by Beatrice Colin, 2008. 404 pages. A dazzling work of historical fiction set during the first third of the 20th century mainly in Berlin, which tells the story of Lilly Aphrodite from orphan to leading silent film star in Germany's early film industry. Loved it. My review here.
Book 13: Disobedience by Naomi Alderman, 2006. 277 pages. This was another though-provoking, well written novel set in the world of British Orthodox Judaism exploring faith and sexuality. My review here.
Boo. I didn't make it. Oh well, it was really fun working toward something like this! This was my first official reading challenge.
I'm heading over to 
15000pages this year. If that doesn't work out, I'll be back in '11. =P
Here is my 2009 list with links to full reviews. In total 150 books and 54,950 pages. In some cases I combined audiobooks with reading. I know these are not countable for this community but still i exceeded 100 books easily.
I'm certainly planning to read at least 100 books in 2010 though hopefully again more in the 150 range.
Over last year's challenge, the few people I've talked to who wasn't participating gave me some okay feedback. The number one response was "2 books a week?? You're nuts!" While I don't disagree with them on the "you're nuts" part, after some more talking I learned that some people seem to be daunted by the challenge, especially since they couldn't re-read books that they've read before. So, I've tweaked the rules a bit.
Here are the rules of the challenge:
The Lightweight Challenge!
The idea of 100 never-read-before books seem too daunting to you? Read something you read before! Skim, if you so choose. Just read any 100 books you desire!
Average Reader
You wanna take the challenge. You even want to try to stick to books you've never read before. The Average Reader challenge is like most other communities out there. 50 books in a year. That averages to about a book a week. You can do it!
The Original Challenge!
This is the reading challenge to end all challenges, and the one that started this community. The books MUST be new to you! By "new" we mean that you've never read it before, have only managed to get through a few chapters and left it, or it's been absolutely sooooooooooooooo long ago that there's no way that reading it again will trigger any memories of it. It's a rough road, but someone's gotta take the challenge!
That all being said, I'm planning on getting some web badges and stuff made up so at the end of the year y'all who rose to the challenge could have something nice to post to your LJ profile or web site about it.
Happy 2010, everyone, and let the new challenge begin!
So, all of you who took the challenge! How did you do? Did you reach your goals?
How about this one: Are you taking the challenge again this year?
My reviews for August have taken a while to write up, so because there are 13 of them I'll keep the summaries brief though links led to longer reviews in my journal.
Book 87: Nemesis (Detective Harry Hole Book 04) by Jo Nesbø, 2002. Translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett, 2008. As with the previous book in this series, Redbreast, I found this an intelligent police procedural though with an unfortunately named main character.
Book 88: Triptych (Will Trent Book 01) by Karin Slaughter, 2006. Damaged people, twists and turns and some quite disturbing violence - this is very much written in Slaughter's signature style.
Book 89: Fractured (Will Trent Book 02) by Karin Slaughter, 2008. Another fast-paced, highly readable gritty crime thriller that grabbed me from the first page and didn't let go. Reviews of Books 87-89 here.
Book 90: The True History of Paradise by Margaret Cezair-Thompson, 1999. Family saga that plays out against historical events in Jamaica during 1970s and 80s. Loved it. Full review here.
Book 91: A Conspiracy of Paper by David Liss, 2000. Historical murder mystery set in early 18th century London. Complex plot with great period atmosphere. Full review here.
Book 92: Dead Until Dark (The Southern Vampire Mysteries Book 01) by Charlaine Harris, 2001
**Book 93: Living Dead in Dallas (The Southern Vampire Mysteries Book 02)**by Charlaine Harris, 2002. Really enjoyed the first two in this popular series.
Book 94: Cry Wolf by Tami Hoag, 1994. A young lawyer comes home to heal after a disastrous case and finds love and danger in the bayou. More romance than thriller, it was an easy read and a bit of a guilty pleasure. My reviews of Books 92-94 here.
Book 95: The Crucifix Killer by Chris Carter, 2009. A vicious murder bears the signature of an executed serial killer. A copycat or is the real killer still out there? A real page-turner. My review here.
Book 96: Mystery Man by Bateman (the author formerly known as Colin Bateman), 2009. Hilarious black comedy mystery that targets the crime and mystery genre. My review here.
Book 97: The Icarus Girl by Helen Oyeyemi, 2005. An ambitious, multi-layered first novel about a young girl caught between three worlds. My review here.
Book 98: Daphne by Justine Picardie, 2008. An intelligent, rich novel based on the true story of Daphne du Maurier's fascination with Bramwell Brontë nested within a modern story of a lonely post graduate fascinated by du Maurier. My review here.
Book 99: Narrow Dog to Carcassonne by Terry Darlington, 2005. An amusing travel memoir about two pensioners and their dog and their travels on their narrowboat. My review here.
Five books round out my July reading. Three were part of on-going series that I've been reading.
Book 82: The Chalk Circle Man (Commissaire Adamsberg Investigates) by Fred Vargas, 1996. Translated from the French by Siân Reynolds, 2009.
Mysterious blue chalk circles begin appearing overnight on the streets of Paris. Each one is drawn around various bizarre objects. Is he a new street artist or a prankster? Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg, newly promoted from the provinces to Paris, is alone in believing that there is a more sinister motive behind the chalk circles and in due course his hunch is proved right. The first in this acclaimed series of French police procedurals. I really enjoy Vargas' quirky style and her cast of eccentric characters.
Book 83: Darkness Rising: The Liebermann Papers Volume Four by Frank Tallis, 2009.
The latest in this excellent series of historical murder mysteries is set in Vienna, 1903. The brutal murders of two rabid anti-Semites leads to suspicion falling upon Vienna's close-knit community of Hassidic Jews. The city is already divided by racial tensions and extremism and the situation is potentially explosive. Detective Inspector Rheinhardt once more turns to his trusted friend, the young psychoanalyst Doctor Max Liebermann for assistance. In the course of the investigation Liebermann is forced to consider his own cultural origins in order to understand the significance of the murders. My reviews for Books 82 & 83 here.
Book 84: The Erotic World of Faery by Maureen Duffy, 1972.
Not an examination of the recent flood of paranormal romance novels featuring the sexual antics of the inhabitants of Faery but a fairly sober overview of how Faery has informed English literature and art coupled with the author's theory that sexual repression lies behind this on-going fascination with Faery. Quite a dated work and one I found overly dependent on Freudian theories. Still dated or not it seems to be one of only a very few studies of fairy folklore in literature. My full review here.
Book 85: The Charlemagne Pursuit (Cotton Malone Book 4) by Steve Berry, 2009.
The latest in this series of thrillers featuring former Justice Department agent, Cotton Malone. It's a fast-paced novel that hardly pauses to draw breath from its first page to last. This time Cotton's desire to discover the circumstances of his father's death leads to he and his allies being caught up in a quest for an ancient advanced civilisation that fascinated the Emperor Charlemagne in the 9th century and more recently the Nazis. A fun roller-coaster ride of a book. My full review here.
Book 86: The Orpheus Trail by Maureen Duffy, 2009.
An intelligent, intriguing mystery that sees a museum curator and a police detective caught up in a web of ancient secrets, pagan rituals and the illegal trafficking of young boys. Overall I enjoyed it though I found its ending a little flat. This may be just Duffy's style as I thought the same thing about her previous novel Alchemy. My full review here.
I had a good run in the first part of July with these six books. I enjoyed all of them. The links in each summary lead to longer reviews in my journal.
Book 76: Crooked Little Vein: a Novel by Warren Ellis, 2007.
Michael McGill is your typical hard-boiled, burned-out private eye with the ability to attract all kinds of weird phenomena. Due to this he is approached by a corrupt White House Chief of Staff who wants him to locate a second "secret" United States Constitution. He undertakes this search with college student Trix, who is writing a thesis on sexual fetishes. Crooked Little Vein is full of all kinds of weird characters and strange situations. I found it very funny and outrageous. My full review here.
Book 77: The Ghost Writer by John Harwood, 2005.
Gerard Freeman grows up in Australia with his controlling mother, who is very secretive about her earlier life in England. Gerard slowly begins to piece together his mother's past aided by the short stories written by his great-grandmother, Viola, until he is old enough to travel to England to uncover the shocking truth. I found this a haunting and highly satisfying tale weaving all the right ingredients of the Victorian Gothic into both its modern narrative and Viola's stories. My full review here.
Book 78: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, 2008.
In January 1946 writer Juliet Ashton is looking for a new writing project. She receives a letter from a man living on the island of Guernsey, who tells her about the literary society that was born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island. The novel is made up entirely of letters between Juliet and various members of the Literary Society, letters exchanged with her publisher and her friends that together weave a gentle, warm and compelling story. Loved it. My full review here.
Book 79: The Uncommon Reader: a Novella by Alan Bennett, 2007.
The uncommon reader of the title is HM Queen Elizabeth II who begins a journey of literary discovery. As her passion for reading grows, her entourage becomes increasingly alarmed and steps are taken to end it. I found this a funny gentle satire about the British monarchy that also provides serious insights into the potential of reading to change lives. One wonders if the Queen ever read it. My full review here.
Book 80: The Music of the Spheres by Elizabeth Redfern, 2001.
I loved this rich and complex work of historical fiction set in 1795 during a time of bitter war between England and revolutionary France. Despite this conflict scientists in both countries continue to search for the 'lost' planet they believe lies between Mars and Saturn. Jonathan Absey, an agent of the Home Office is working to uncover a spy ring that he believes is using the scientists' privileges to pass coded messages to Paris. At the same time he is trying to solve the murder of his runaway teenage daughter, one of a number of red-haired prostitutes found strangled on the dangerous streets of London. A heady mix of spies, forbidden passions, war, intrigues, and science with a serial killer thrown in for good measure. My full review here.
Book 81: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, 1938.
This classic work of romantic suspense was one I'd read before and was also an audiobook. Not counting it towards my 100 books. My full review.
Links in these short summaries lead to longer reviews in my journal.
Book 69: The White Queen (Book One of The Cousins' War) by Philippa Gregory, August 2009.
Philippa Gregory's new trilogy focuses on the Wars of the Rose when the Houses of Lancaster and York fought throughout England to establish their rival claims to the English crown. The first volume is told from the viewpoint of Elizabeth Woodville, who was Queen Consort to Edward IV and mother of the Princes in the Tower. I feel that Gregory has done an excellent job of capturing a complex period of history and retelling it in a vibrant style. Personally I found it almost impossible to put down. I also appreciated her weaving of myth and magic into the plot. It's bound to delight Gregory's fans though there will also likely be controversy for certain aspects. While my ARC did not contain any historical end-notes or lists of sources, the published edition will. My full review here.
Book 70: Holy Disorders by Edmund Crispin, 1945.
This is an old fashioned 'locked room' detective tale set during the early years of WWII. Its main character is Gervase Fen, an eccentric Oxford Professor of English and part-time amateur detective. Here he investigates murders in the fictional Devon cathedral town of Tolnbridge. Delightful fun with twists and turns and a few red herrings thrown in for good measure. Classic British detective fiction at its best. My full review here.
Book 71: Poppy Shakespeare by Clare Allan, 2006.
This is a darkly comedic satire that takes a savage swipe at British mental health services and is written by a woman who was part of the system for a decade. Its narrator is 'N', a long time patient of the Dorothy Fish Day Hospital in London. N has been a 'dribbler' all her life and at the opening is asked to show a new patient, Poppy Shakespeare, around the unit. Poppy vigorously insists that she isn't mad and that it's all a big mistake. However, in a typical Catch-22 situation the only way she can prove she is sane is if she is first deemed mad. It is written in an immediate colloquial style with a lot of swearing and London slang. I loved it. My full review here.
Book 72: Storm Glass (Opal Cowan Trilogy Book 1) by Marie V. Snyder, 2009.
A new spin-off series from Snyder's Study Trilogy that features as its narrator glass-maker and magician-in-training, Opal Cowan and follows her adventures as she is sent on her first mission of the Master Magicians of Sitia. I enjoyed this fast paced adventure as I had done her previous trilogy. My full review here.
Book 73: Alchemy by Maureen Duffy, 2004.
Jade Green, a young solicitor who fancies herself a private eye, is hired to represent a history teacher sacked for 'corrupting' his students by allegedly promoting Satanism and perversion. He claims his innocence and that the small university has come under the control of a fundamentalist Christian group. He loans her a transcript of a cipher manuscript written by Amyntas Boston, who was raised and lived as a boy in the early 17th century. As she awaits trial for witchcraft, Amyntas writes of her secret life and love and Jade finds many resonances with her own life. This was a 'near miss' for me though certainly was well-written and full of fascinating material on the historical period. My full review here.
Book 74: My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult, 2004.
When 2-year old Kate Fitzgerald is diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia her parents consciously conceive her sister Anna to provide a donor match. Through the ensuing years Anna undergoes a series of increasingly invasive procedures to extend Kate's life. Now at the age of 13, Anna hires a lawyer to represent her in a medical emancipation suit to allow her to have control over her own body. The novel, written in Picoult's signature style, raises difficult ethical questions and does not provide any easy answers. It was just what I needed to read that particular week..
Book 75: Water Lily: a novel of mystery by Susanna Jones, 2003.
This short novel sees the coming together of a middle-aged British man, who has come to Japan in search of a submissive Asian bride, and a young Japanese high school teacher, who has assumed her sister's identity in order to flee from an impending scandal after her affair with a pupil is discovered. They meet on a ferry to Shanghai with each pretending to be someone they are not. While I did not find this as strong a narrative as her previous novel, The Earthquake Bird, it still a well-constructed character study of two fairly unpleasant people set on a collision course. It did remind me some of Natsuo Kirino's novels in its unconventional take on the thriller genre. My reviews of Books 74 & 75 here.
This post on a wonderful blog called A Working Library made me think of this challenge, so I thought I'd share it with y'all.
=)
" 'A reader’s common complaint about a particular book is that it is not another book. Wishing for another book is wishing for one’s own book. Or, more accurately, for the representation of one’s own eccentric dream.'
"One could read this cynically, in that the reader disparages those that fail to live up to his imaginary expectations. But I prefer another approach: that this inherent dissatisfaction in reading is part of what drives the desire to read in the first place. I think of the librarians in Borges’ The Library of Babel, doomed to spend their entire lives searching an infinite library for a book they will never find. That they cannot succeed does not make their quest futile; it is the quest itself that matters."
This one goes out to anyone who is slightly behind. *cougheveryone*