2008: Ruth's Year in Books
A couple of years ago, I decided that I would keep a list of all the books I read. It would be, I thought, interesting to see how much, and what, I actually read. So when I read a book, I wrote it down in my writing binder. I liked the whole project so much that I've been doing it again each year.
What's here:
January 3-4 Kitty and the Silver Bullet by Carrie Vaughn. I don't really remember this now, but it was good. First reading.
January 4 Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale. Interesting YA fairy tale. Not stellar. First reading.
January 5 Mairelon the Magician by Patricia C. Wrede. Awesome YA regency fantasy/romance. Fourth or fifth reading.
January 5-6 Magician's Ward by Patricia C. Wrede. Sequel to Mairelon the Magician. Awesome YA regency fantasy/romance. Third or fourth reading.
January 6-11 How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman. Fascinating look at how doctors think. Interesting chapters that don't quite connect into a coherent whole. First reading.
January 14-20 Glasshouse by Charles Stross. Not great sci fi. First reading.
January 22-24 Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs. Good book, emotionally unsatisfying ending. First reading.
January 28-February 1 What Should I Do With My Life? by Po Bronson. Interesting book about people's career/life path choices. Says more about Po Bronson than about the human condition. First reading.
February 4 Looking for the Mahdi by N. Lee Wood. This sounded interesting, but I couldn't get into it. First reading (unfinished).
February 9 Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You by Peter Cameron. Started out funny, but lost its way on the way to an unrealistic ending. First reading.
February 14-18 Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss what Matters Most by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, Sheila Heen, and Roger Fisher. Excellent book about how to have difficult conversations. First reading.
February 18-23 Sable, Shadow, and Ice by Cheryl J. Franklin. Still one of my favorite sci fi/fantasy books. Fourth or fifth reading.
February 25-26 Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith. Great concept, one of those books that ends just as the story gets really interesting. First reading.
February 27-29 Bass Ackwards and Belly Up by Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain. Gets more interesting halfway through; good enough that I'd read the sequel. First reading.
March 1 My Fair Captain by J.L. Langley. Fun gay regency romance - in space! First reading.
March 3 D.A. by Connie Willis. Excellent novella. First reading.
March 4-10 The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold. Good storytelling, fascinating religion. Second reading.
March 5-7 To Love a Cowboy by Rhianne Aile. Not very good gay romance novel. Does include the very entertaining novella Justice. First reading.
March 11-16 The Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold. Sequel to The Curse of Chalion. First reading.
March 15-16 Old Town New by B.A. Tortuga. Gay romance novel; needed more build up to the relationship. First reading.
March 17-22 The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold. Good story; part of the same world as the previous two, but not a direct sequel. First reading.
March 24-27 The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman. Excellent piece of non-fiction. First reading.
March 30 This Country of Mothers by Julianna Baggott. I'm not usually one for poetry, but I loved one of the poems from this, so I read the whole thing. Some arresting images. First reading.
March 31 This Is All: The Pillow Book of Cordelia Kenn by Aidan Chambers. Sounded interesting, but I ccouldn't get into it. First reading (unfinished).
April 4 Time and Again by Jack Finney. Might have been an interesting time travel story, but I didn't have the patience for the set up. First reading (unfinished).
April 7-12 Uncommon Arrangements by Katie Roiphe. I enjoyed looking up the historical figures on Wikipedia more than I enjoyed the book itself. First reading.
April 14-16 The Sharing Knife: Beguilement by Lois McMaster Bujold. Excellent fantasy/romance. First reading.
April 17-18 The Sharing Knife: Legacy by Lois McMaster Bujold. Excellent fantasy/romance; continuation of The Sharing Knife: Beguilement. First reading.
April 19-22 The Sharing Knife: Passage by Lois McMaster Bujold. Excellent fantasy/romance; third in the series First reading.
April 23-26 What Did I Do Wrong? by Liz Pryor. Interesting look at women who've been the victims of unendings in their friendships with other women. First reading.
April 28-30 Spindle's End by Robin McKinley. Excellent Sleeping Beauty retelling. Fourth reading.
May 1-8 Wheel of the Infinite by Martha Wells. I remember loving this. The second time around, I felt like the story was just beginning when the book ends. Second reading.
May 9-20 Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger. Depressing but fascinating. The prose tends toward the overwrought, but it works for the subject matter. First reading.
May 22 Mission Child by Maureen McHugh. Okay, but not great. First reading.
May 25-27 Into the Dark Lands by Michelle Sagara. Good fantasy novel. First reading.
May 27-28 Children of the Blood by Michelle Sagara. Good fantasy novel; sequel to Into the Dark Lands. First reading.
May 29 Female Chauvinist Pigs by Ariel Levy. She's a good writer, but the book is severely flawed. First reading.
May 30 Goose Chase by Patrice Kindl. Highly entertaining fairy tale retelling. First reading.
June 1-2 The Midnight Twins by Jacquelyn Mitchard. Excellent young adult fantasy novel. First reading.
June 3 I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was: How to Discover What You Really Want and How to Get It by Barbara Sher. Not interesting enough to finish. First reading (unfinished).
June 16-30 Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer. Absolutely fascinating look at the history of the Mormon church. First reading.
June 30-July 4 The Heart of Valor by Tanya Huff. Third Valor novel. Excellent. First reading.
July 7-11 Fire Study by Maria V. Snyder. I really liked the first two novels, but not this one. First reading.
July 13-14 Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer. Lots of fun! Second reading.
July 15-16 My Most Excellent Year: A Novel of Love, Mary Poppins, and Fenway Park by Steve Kluger. The best book I read all year. Absolutely fantastic. First reading.
July 17-31 On Royalty: A Very Polite Inquiry Into Some Strangely Related Families by Jeremy Paxman. Amusing history of the royals. First reading.
July 18 Among the Living by Jordan Castillo Price. First PsyCop novel. Good enough to make me read the second. First reading.
July 19-20 Deviations: Submission by Chris Owen and Jodi Payne. BDSM gay romance novel. Good. First reading.
July 27-28 Deviations: Domination by Chris Owen and Jodi Payne. BDSM gay romance novel. Good. First reading.
July 29 Criss Cross by Jordan Castillo Price. Second PsyCop novel. Vic got more interesting as a character at the end of the book. First reading.
August 1 The Courage to Love by Samantha Kane. Threesome romance novel. First reading.
August 2 Love Under Siege by Samantha Kane. Threesome romance novel. Best sex of the four. First reading.
August 2 Love's Strategy by Samantha Kane. Threesome romance novel. First reading.
August 3 At Love's Command by Samantha Kane. Threesome romance novel. Best story of the four. First reading.
August 4-5 Changing Pitches by Steve Kluger. Good novel; a lot like The Dreyfus Affair. First reading.
August 6 Skinny Legs and All by Tom Robbins. Recommended by a friend, but I couldn't get into it at all. First reading (unfinished).
August 8 Body and Soul by Jordan Castillo Price. Third PsyCop novel. Kept me reading to the fourth. First reading.
August 9 Almost Like Being In Love by Steve Kluger. Excellent novel. First reading.
August 10-11 Tale of Two Summers by Brian Sloan. Interesting concept of two friends sharing a blog, but not a great book. First reading.
August 12 The Hookup Artist by Tucker Shaw. Would have been better if it had been about the couple who go on a date at the end. The pivotal conflict scene was so embarrassing I couldn't read it. First reading.
August 13 Schooled by Gordon Korman. Fairly standard Gordon Korman fare. Entertaining. First reading.
August 14-25 Closet Devotions by Richard Rambuss. Interesting concept for the first part, but dragged on and on and on. First reading.
August 25-26 The Bachelor by Carly Phillips. Not great romance novel. First reading.
August 26-27 The Well-Tempered Sentence by Karen Elizabeth Gordon. Entertaining examples. First reading.
August 29 Remember When by Judith McNaught. Romance novel; good plot, but ultimately not as fulfilling as I'd hoped. First reading.
August 30 Strange Bedpersons by Jennifer Crusie. Fun, good concept. Second reading.
August 31 Secrets by Jordan Castillo Price. Fourth PsyCop novel. Ends on a cliffhanger. First reading.
August 31-Septemer 1 Beauty Shop for Rent: . . . Fully Equipped, Inquire Within by Laura Bowers. Fairly standard young adult novel. First reading.
September 3-7 Belong to Me by Marisa De Los Santos. Excellent sequel to Love Walked In. First reading.
September 8 A Bit of Rough by Laura Baumbach. Fun while reading, but ultimately not that great. First reading.
September 10 Getting Rid of Bradley by Jennifer Crusie. Standard Jennifer Crusie. Second reading.
September 13-14 The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart. Excellent young adult novel. First reading.
September 18-29 Free For All by Don Borchart. Interesting library anecdotes that don't hang together as a whole. First reading.
September 30-October 3 Tell Me Lies by Jennifer Crusie. Entertaining. Second reading.
October 5-6 I Want to Go Home! by Gordon Korman. Still funny after all the years since I last read it. Third reading.
October 8-9 Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway. Fantastic young adult novel with a great protagonist voice. First reading.
October 9-11 Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs. I expected something completely different from what this was, and I didn't like it much. First reading.
October 15-18 Dramarama by E. Lockhart. Good but not great young adult novel. First reading.
October 29-November 8 Of A Feather: A Brief History of American Birding by Scott Weidensaul. Entertaining history. First reading.
November 8-10 Cast In Fury by Michelle Sagara. Fourth in the series. Still good. First reading.
November 11 Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. Oh, if only this were a hundred pages shorter and better written. First reading.
November 18-21 Pavement: Reflections on Mercy, Activism, and Doing "Nothing" for Peace by Lin Jensen. Excellent book with a local connection. First reading.
November 22-23 Embrace the Night by Karen Chance. Third Cassandra Palmer book. Still great. First reading.
December 1-5 Sunshine by Robin McKinley. Excellent vampire novel. Second reading.
December 8-9 Chalice by Robin McKinley. Excellent young adult fantasy novel. First reading.
December 9 Vibes by Amy Kathleen Ryan. Entertaining, but I wanted the heroine to not be quite as dense. First reading.
December 10-13 Spindle's End by Robin McKinley. Excellent fairy tale retelling. Fifth reading.
December 13-15 Body Outlaws: Young Women Write About Body Image and Identity edited by Ophira Edut. Average essay collection. First reading.
December 16 Spacer and Rat by Margaret Bechard. Excellent young adult sci fi novel. First reading.
December 17-18 Dragonhaven by Robin McKinley. Good concept, but the accurate teenage boy voice started to get to me. I was also bothered by the American teenager using British terms. First reading.
December 19 Impossible by Nancy Werlin. Excellent young adult fantasy novel. First reading.
December 23 Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin. Good young adult novel. First reading.
December 26 Two-Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt. Good story, but the cover design doesn't fit the book at all. First reading.
December 27 Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. Fantastic young adult novel with an interesting structure. First reading.
December 26-12-27 Camp Hell by Jordan Castillo Price. Fifth PsyCop novel. Excellent plot; iffy sex scenes. First reading.
December 29 Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr. Excellent fantasy novel. First reading.
December 29-30 The Englor Affair by J.L. Langley. Fun gay regency romance - in space! Sequel to My Fair Captain. First reading.
December 30 Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter. Still a great concept; not as good a book as the first one. First reading.
What's here:
- Books I read in 2008.
- Authors of the books.
- Dates I read the books.
- Short notes about each book.
- Approximately how many times I've read the book.
- Magazine and newspaper articles I read, either for work or for fun.
- Web-published fiction I read.
- Short stories and individual chapters I read to remind myself of what the book was about.
January 3-4 Kitty and the Silver Bullet by Carrie Vaughn. I don't really remember this now, but it was good. First reading.
January 4 Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale. Interesting YA fairy tale. Not stellar. First reading.
January 5 Mairelon the Magician by Patricia C. Wrede. Awesome YA regency fantasy/romance. Fourth or fifth reading.
January 5-6 Magician's Ward by Patricia C. Wrede. Sequel to Mairelon the Magician. Awesome YA regency fantasy/romance. Third or fourth reading.
January 6-11 How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman. Fascinating look at how doctors think. Interesting chapters that don't quite connect into a coherent whole. First reading.
January 14-20 Glasshouse by Charles Stross. Not great sci fi. First reading.
January 22-24 Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs. Good book, emotionally unsatisfying ending. First reading.
January 28-February 1 What Should I Do With My Life? by Po Bronson. Interesting book about people's career/life path choices. Says more about Po Bronson than about the human condition. First reading.
February 4 Looking for the Mahdi by N. Lee Wood. This sounded interesting, but I couldn't get into it. First reading (unfinished).
February 9 Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You by Peter Cameron. Started out funny, but lost its way on the way to an unrealistic ending. First reading.
February 14-18 Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss what Matters Most by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, Sheila Heen, and Roger Fisher. Excellent book about how to have difficult conversations. First reading.
February 18-23 Sable, Shadow, and Ice by Cheryl J. Franklin. Still one of my favorite sci fi/fantasy books. Fourth or fifth reading.
February 25-26 Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith. Great concept, one of those books that ends just as the story gets really interesting. First reading.
February 27-29 Bass Ackwards and Belly Up by Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain. Gets more interesting halfway through; good enough that I'd read the sequel. First reading.
March 1 My Fair Captain by J.L. Langley. Fun gay regency romance - in space! First reading.
March 3 D.A. by Connie Willis. Excellent novella. First reading.
March 4-10 The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold. Good storytelling, fascinating religion. Second reading.
March 5-7 To Love a Cowboy by Rhianne Aile. Not very good gay romance novel. Does include the very entertaining novella Justice. First reading.
March 11-16 The Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold. Sequel to The Curse of Chalion. First reading.
March 15-16 Old Town New by B.A. Tortuga. Gay romance novel; needed more build up to the relationship. First reading.
March 17-22 The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold. Good story; part of the same world as the previous two, but not a direct sequel. First reading.
March 24-27 The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman. Excellent piece of non-fiction. First reading.
March 30 This Country of Mothers by Julianna Baggott. I'm not usually one for poetry, but I loved one of the poems from this, so I read the whole thing. Some arresting images. First reading.
March 31 This Is All: The Pillow Book of Cordelia Kenn by Aidan Chambers. Sounded interesting, but I ccouldn't get into it. First reading (unfinished).
April 4 Time and Again by Jack Finney. Might have been an interesting time travel story, but I didn't have the patience for the set up. First reading (unfinished).
April 7-12 Uncommon Arrangements by Katie Roiphe. I enjoyed looking up the historical figures on Wikipedia more than I enjoyed the book itself. First reading.
April 14-16 The Sharing Knife: Beguilement by Lois McMaster Bujold. Excellent fantasy/romance. First reading.
April 17-18 The Sharing Knife: Legacy by Lois McMaster Bujold. Excellent fantasy/romance; continuation of The Sharing Knife: Beguilement. First reading.
April 19-22 The Sharing Knife: Passage by Lois McMaster Bujold. Excellent fantasy/romance; third in the series First reading.
April 23-26 What Did I Do Wrong? by Liz Pryor. Interesting look at women who've been the victims of unendings in their friendships with other women. First reading.
April 28-30 Spindle's End by Robin McKinley. Excellent Sleeping Beauty retelling. Fourth reading.
May 1-8 Wheel of the Infinite by Martha Wells. I remember loving this. The second time around, I felt like the story was just beginning when the book ends. Second reading.
May 9-20 Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger. Depressing but fascinating. The prose tends toward the overwrought, but it works for the subject matter. First reading.
May 22 Mission Child by Maureen McHugh. Okay, but not great. First reading.
May 25-27 Into the Dark Lands by Michelle Sagara. Good fantasy novel. First reading.
May 27-28 Children of the Blood by Michelle Sagara. Good fantasy novel; sequel to Into the Dark Lands. First reading.
May 29 Female Chauvinist Pigs by Ariel Levy. She's a good writer, but the book is severely flawed. First reading.
May 30 Goose Chase by Patrice Kindl. Highly entertaining fairy tale retelling. First reading.
June 1-2 The Midnight Twins by Jacquelyn Mitchard. Excellent young adult fantasy novel. First reading.
June 3 I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was: How to Discover What You Really Want and How to Get It by Barbara Sher. Not interesting enough to finish. First reading (unfinished).
June 16-30 Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer. Absolutely fascinating look at the history of the Mormon church. First reading.
June 30-July 4 The Heart of Valor by Tanya Huff. Third Valor novel. Excellent. First reading.
July 7-11 Fire Study by Maria V. Snyder. I really liked the first two novels, but not this one. First reading.
July 13-14 Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer. Lots of fun! Second reading.
July 15-16 My Most Excellent Year: A Novel of Love, Mary Poppins, and Fenway Park by Steve Kluger. The best book I read all year. Absolutely fantastic. First reading.
July 17-31 On Royalty: A Very Polite Inquiry Into Some Strangely Related Families by Jeremy Paxman. Amusing history of the royals. First reading.
July 18 Among the Living by Jordan Castillo Price. First PsyCop novel. Good enough to make me read the second. First reading.
July 19-20 Deviations: Submission by Chris Owen and Jodi Payne. BDSM gay romance novel. Good. First reading.
July 27-28 Deviations: Domination by Chris Owen and Jodi Payne. BDSM gay romance novel. Good. First reading.
July 29 Criss Cross by Jordan Castillo Price. Second PsyCop novel. Vic got more interesting as a character at the end of the book. First reading.
August 1 The Courage to Love by Samantha Kane. Threesome romance novel. First reading.
August 2 Love Under Siege by Samantha Kane. Threesome romance novel. Best sex of the four. First reading.
August 2 Love's Strategy by Samantha Kane. Threesome romance novel. First reading.
August 3 At Love's Command by Samantha Kane. Threesome romance novel. Best story of the four. First reading.
August 4-5 Changing Pitches by Steve Kluger. Good novel; a lot like The Dreyfus Affair. First reading.
August 6 Skinny Legs and All by Tom Robbins. Recommended by a friend, but I couldn't get into it at all. First reading (unfinished).
August 8 Body and Soul by Jordan Castillo Price. Third PsyCop novel. Kept me reading to the fourth. First reading.
August 9 Almost Like Being In Love by Steve Kluger. Excellent novel. First reading.
August 10-11 Tale of Two Summers by Brian Sloan. Interesting concept of two friends sharing a blog, but not a great book. First reading.
August 12 The Hookup Artist by Tucker Shaw. Would have been better if it had been about the couple who go on a date at the end. The pivotal conflict scene was so embarrassing I couldn't read it. First reading.
August 13 Schooled by Gordon Korman. Fairly standard Gordon Korman fare. Entertaining. First reading.
August 14-25 Closet Devotions by Richard Rambuss. Interesting concept for the first part, but dragged on and on and on. First reading.
August 25-26 The Bachelor by Carly Phillips. Not great romance novel. First reading.
August 26-27 The Well-Tempered Sentence by Karen Elizabeth Gordon. Entertaining examples. First reading.
August 29 Remember When by Judith McNaught. Romance novel; good plot, but ultimately not as fulfilling as I'd hoped. First reading.
August 30 Strange Bedpersons by Jennifer Crusie. Fun, good concept. Second reading.
August 31 Secrets by Jordan Castillo Price. Fourth PsyCop novel. Ends on a cliffhanger. First reading.
August 31-Septemer 1 Beauty Shop for Rent: . . . Fully Equipped, Inquire Within by Laura Bowers. Fairly standard young adult novel. First reading.
September 3-7 Belong to Me by Marisa De Los Santos. Excellent sequel to Love Walked In. First reading.
September 8 A Bit of Rough by Laura Baumbach. Fun while reading, but ultimately not that great. First reading.
September 10 Getting Rid of Bradley by Jennifer Crusie. Standard Jennifer Crusie. Second reading.
September 13-14 The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart. Excellent young adult novel. First reading.
September 18-29 Free For All by Don Borchart. Interesting library anecdotes that don't hang together as a whole. First reading.
September 30-October 3 Tell Me Lies by Jennifer Crusie. Entertaining. Second reading.
October 5-6 I Want to Go Home! by Gordon Korman. Still funny after all the years since I last read it. Third reading.
October 8-9 Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway. Fantastic young adult novel with a great protagonist voice. First reading.
October 9-11 Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs. I expected something completely different from what this was, and I didn't like it much. First reading.
October 15-18 Dramarama by E. Lockhart. Good but not great young adult novel. First reading.
October 29-November 8 Of A Feather: A Brief History of American Birding by Scott Weidensaul. Entertaining history. First reading.
November 8-10 Cast In Fury by Michelle Sagara. Fourth in the series. Still good. First reading.
November 11 Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. Oh, if only this were a hundred pages shorter and better written. First reading.
November 18-21 Pavement: Reflections on Mercy, Activism, and Doing "Nothing" for Peace by Lin Jensen. Excellent book with a local connection. First reading.
November 22-23 Embrace the Night by Karen Chance. Third Cassandra Palmer book. Still great. First reading.
December 1-5 Sunshine by Robin McKinley. Excellent vampire novel. Second reading.
December 8-9 Chalice by Robin McKinley. Excellent young adult fantasy novel. First reading.
December 9 Vibes by Amy Kathleen Ryan. Entertaining, but I wanted the heroine to not be quite as dense. First reading.
December 10-13 Spindle's End by Robin McKinley. Excellent fairy tale retelling. Fifth reading.
December 13-15 Body Outlaws: Young Women Write About Body Image and Identity edited by Ophira Edut. Average essay collection. First reading.
December 16 Spacer and Rat by Margaret Bechard. Excellent young adult sci fi novel. First reading.
December 17-18 Dragonhaven by Robin McKinley. Good concept, but the accurate teenage boy voice started to get to me. I was also bothered by the American teenager using British terms. First reading.
December 19 Impossible by Nancy Werlin. Excellent young adult fantasy novel. First reading.
December 23 Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin. Good young adult novel. First reading.
December 26 Two-Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt. Good story, but the cover design doesn't fit the book at all. First reading.
December 27 Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. Fantastic young adult novel with an interesting structure. First reading.
December 26-12-27 Camp Hell by Jordan Castillo Price. Fifth PsyCop novel. Excellent plot; iffy sex scenes. First reading.
December 29 Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr. Excellent fantasy novel. First reading.
December 29-30 The Englor Affair by J.L. Langley. Fun gay regency romance - in space! Sequel to My Fair Captain. First reading.
December 30 Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter. Still a great concept; not as good a book as the first one. First reading.