- Fall on Your Knees - Ann Marie MacDonald - Considerably better than I expected. A really well-written, surprisingly un-sensational and un-skeezy account of incest.
- A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving - Didn't really get into it until close to the end, but there's quite a lot to think about in it.
- The Amber Spyglass - Philip Pullman - A pretty crazy end to a decent trilogy. Very sad ending.
- Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy - Not as good as I'd hoped it would be. Too much extraneous stuff to really get into the main story.
- Before Dishonor - Peter David - Terrible, terrible piece of disappointing brain fluff.
- Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden - Beautifully written. Don't bother with the movie.
- Chocolat - Joanne Harris - Boring, two-dimensional characters in a not-that-interesting story.
- Le Morte Darthur - Thomas Malory - One of those classics that you read for the sake of having read it, not so much because it's a very good read.
- The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas - Quite enjoyable, as Dumas tends to be. Very witty, very convoluted, and highly entertaining.
- An Abundance of Katherines - John Green - Awesomely nerdy. I loved it.
- A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess - I think he over-reached what he was trying to do.
- Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury - A staple of the dystopic canon.
- Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson - Quick read, another one that, nowadays, you read for the sake of having read it. Not because it's not good, but because knowing the big secret from the beginning does kind of take something away.
- The Gargoyle - Andrew Davidson - Best book I've read in a long time. Seriously. I loved it.
- Lace - Shirley Conran - More brain fluff, but a little more substantial, and definitely more interesting than the Peter David.
- Gargantua & Pantagruel (Books 1 & 2) - François Rabelais - Ugh. This was basically dreadful, and should be reserved for those studying the history of French literature.
- Why We Read What We Read - Lisa Adams & John Heath - A hilarious look at some of the popular literature trends floating around. Entertaining and informative.
- The Diamond of Drury Lane - Julia Golding - Cute kids book that would be great for a girl into theatre.
- Persuasion - Jane Austen - Well-written love story, but Austen's not really my thing.
- The Hunchback of Notre-Dame - Victor Hugo - Easier to get through than Les Misérables, but holy crap was it depressing.
- Dark Cathedral - Freda Warrington - Horrifying. Seriously horrifying. Decent read, though.
- The Three Signs of a Miserable Job - Patrick Lencioni - I think the only business book I've ever read. Written in a very readable way, with some very good points.
- The Scarlet Stockings: The Enchanted Riddle - Charlotte Kandel - A kids book about dancing that did not live up to its possibilities at all.
- Soul - Tobsha Learner - Sounded much more interesting in its blurb.
- Operation Typhoon Shore - Joshua Mowll - Excellent middle section to the Guild of Specialists trilogy. Great series to recommend for boys, or anyone, really. I'm looking forward to book 3.
- The Charterhouse of Parma - Stendhal - So disappointing after Scarlet and Black.
- Shelf Monkey - Corey Redekop - A book for all book store employees who have ever been frustrated by the horrible saccharine choices made by customers.
- Twilight - Stephenie Meyer - The It series of the year, I thought I ought to read it. I was wrong. It was dreadful.
- All the World's Mornings - Pascal Quignard - Odd little book.
- Word Nerd - Susin Nielsen - A really cute book about Scrabble and words.
- Invisible Monsters - Chuck Palahniuk - This book confirmed that Palahniuk is not my thing. But I can see how one could be into it.
- Looking for Alaska - John Green - More John Green. I liked Katherines better, but this was really good too.
- Confessions of an English Opium-Eater - Thomas de Quincey - Dull dull dull. Didn't actually finish it. Most likely never will.
- Wicked - Gregory Maguire - Pretty crazy, and I'm not sure it was as effective as it could have been. But it's an interesting way of looking at the story, and I look forward to reading more of Maguire's work.
Ooh, 2 better than last year. For more,
kingsreading.livejournal.com.