Book post!
So, because I have started keeping track of things via goodreads, I am going to be lazy about my book round ups...
Click here for a link to my "read in 09" shelf on goodreads.
The total number is 67. Not my benchmark, but certainly not the least number I've read. It's also not entirely accurate, since I don't always record rereadings, and I don't really like to keep track of the trashy romance novels that I read, since my pastor's wife and my snooty friend S are my friends on goodreads. You know who else is my friend? Felicia Day. And she has rockin' taste in books.
Anyhoodle, I will give you my ten best and ten worst list. I'll start with the bad so I can end on a good note:
In no particular order:
1. Havemercy by Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett. It's probably heinously uncool of me to list this, since they're lj authors and all, but dude. DUDE. An entire book told from FOUR DIFFERENT FIRST PERSON POVS? There was no way, NO WAY, I was ever going to like this. The metal dragons were pretty cool, but that was about it.*
2. Burning Wild by Christine Feehan. I wanted to see what all the raging hype surrounding this woman was about, and I was so completely and utterly disgusted by this book that I couldn't even finish it.
3. Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz. If she spent half as much time coming up with a plot as she spends describing everyone's outfits, I might have actually been able to finish this one too. Sadly, I could not, though I did skim the majority of it. Twilight I can understand, the fascination with this? I cannot.
4. The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan. POST APOCALYPTIC ZOMBIES. THIS SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN BAD. And yet it WAS because NO ONE BOTHERS TO MAKE PEOPLE LIKEABLE ANYMORE. Seriously. By the time the ending came around, I wanted to turn into a zombie just so I could KILL EVERYONE.
5. Born of Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon. I will admit to loving me some Dark Hunter books. They're strange and they muck up mythology something fierce, but since I don't feel a deep and abiding connection to Greek and Roman gods I don't mind so much. But SPACE? Omg, do I know space. And it is PAINFULLY OBVIOUS when reading this book that Sherrilyn Kenyon DOES NOT KNOW SPACE.
6. The Thirteenth House by Sharon Shinn. Much as it pains me to put a Sharon Shinn anywhere on a least favorite list, this book just did not do it for me. She took characters that I absolutely ADORED and put them in an extramarital affair and proceeded to make that the grand romance of the book. SO. DUMB.
7. Why I'm Like This by Cynthia Kaplan. I'm really glad that the time I went to a store with the intention to buy this book, it was nowhere to be found. I borrowed it from the store and was SO HAPPY that I had not put down money for it ever. The first page of this book is witty and hilarious and promises so much that the rest of the book never bothers to live up to. All in all, a pretty disappointing read.
8. If Angels Burn by Lynn Viehl. Like every romance novel I read this year is ending up on this list, but is it too much to ask for good writing from the trash I read? Maybe so. Anyway, I actually DID finish this one, if only so I could tell the woman that recommended this to me that I had. Really awful writing, really stupid characters, REALLY stupid mythology, not interesting at all.
9. Sea Glass by Maria V. Snyder. I loved her first trilogy, and was disappointed with this one. The main character is rather minor and uninteresting in the first trilogy, and she doesn't get any more interesting in this story. Plus OMG, she has a backbone made of jelly. PLUS. OMG. So this guy kidnaps her and tortures her in the first trilogy, and then is made a sympathetic and SUPPOSEDLY likeable character in this one, and at some point tells her that those days he spent torturing her were the happiest in his life. And she somehow finds that ENDEARING. WTF?
10. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer. It's a reread, so it doesn't really belong here, but WHATEVER. I still hate this book, and I hate Jacob in this book, and I can't understand why I keep inflicting it on myself.
*(I may have mentioned a time or two hundred that I hate first person POV. But here I am, mentioning it again. It's not always true, but it is the POV most often completely fucked up by people who don't know what they're doing.)
That list made me very shouty. ON TO THE TOP TEN, BECAUSE THIS LIST WILL BE HAPPIER.
In no particular order:
1. Generation Kill by Evan Wright. Perfect complement to the miniseries. It expounds a lot upon the story line given there. Also, I love the way Evan Wright writes. :)
2. Reader and Raelynx by Sharon Shinn. This is where Sharon Shinn belongs. On my favorites list! It just makes me sad that to get to this book, I had to read the other. Anyway, I ended up liking much more about this series than I disliked, and Sharon Shinn more than made up for the awfulness of the second with the awesomeness of the third and fourth.
3. Graceling by Kristin Cashore. An interesting first novel. I liked the idea of "graces," how they worked within the society. I really enjoyed the character development.
4. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. This was never ever going to live up to the hype of the guy that recommended it to me, but I did enjoy it. It's a very incomplete first novel in an as yet unfinished trilogy, but the world it sets up is interesting, the character is intriguing, and it does not lack for detail at all. If it holds up in the next two novels, it may go up in my estimation.
5. The Sharing Knife: Horizon by Lois McMaster Bujold. The last in a series I've been following as they're published. The ending was a little abrupt, but it was hard won and satisfying all the same.
6. Old Man's War by John Scalzi. Oh man, one of my favorite discoveries of '09. I really, really love this guy's writing. He's funny without seeming to try too hard (coughchristophermooresuckscough), and the world building is PHENOMENAL. It's a really interesting look at a potential future.
7. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. The book that cemented my love of lurid gothic novels. Oh man, so much love.
8. Impossible by Nancy Werlin. This book was not without its flaws. It rushed too much on things that were too interesting. She wanted to fit a particular formula, and I think tried too hard in places to make the story she'd created fit the formula. But for all that, it's really a lovely book, and has the most ADORABLE part ever, where this boy thinks about how much he loves this girl. ADORABLE.
9. What Happens In London by Julia Quinn. I feel like this should get a mention, because I read some of it sitting in the break room at work and actually laughed out loud, because it was so funny and awesome. Julia Quinn gives me hope for the romance genre. She is witty and awesome.
10. Columbine by Dave Cullen. It wasn't a particular favorite, and I still have problems with the way he organized the book, but I'm glad it exists and that I read it. I think a lot of the things in it needed to be said, a lot of the lies that spun out from that tragedy needed to be countered, and a lot of things needed to be put to rest.
I've already finished two books this year, one for each of these lists. Can I just say? I really hope that Audrey Niffenegger does not end up as a one hit wonder. I loved Time-Traveler's Wife with a deep abiding love, but her second book was loathsome. Robin Hobb, however, is AWESOME.
Click here for a link to my "read in 09" shelf on goodreads.
The total number is 67. Not my benchmark, but certainly not the least number I've read. It's also not entirely accurate, since I don't always record rereadings, and I don't really like to keep track of the trashy romance novels that I read, since my pastor's wife and my snooty friend S are my friends on goodreads. You know who else is my friend? Felicia Day. And she has rockin' taste in books.
Anyhoodle, I will give you my ten best and ten worst list. I'll start with the bad so I can end on a good note:
In no particular order:
1. Havemercy by Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett. It's probably heinously uncool of me to list this, since they're lj authors and all, but dude. DUDE. An entire book told from FOUR DIFFERENT FIRST PERSON POVS? There was no way, NO WAY, I was ever going to like this. The metal dragons were pretty cool, but that was about it.*
2. Burning Wild by Christine Feehan. I wanted to see what all the raging hype surrounding this woman was about, and I was so completely and utterly disgusted by this book that I couldn't even finish it.
3. Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz. If she spent half as much time coming up with a plot as she spends describing everyone's outfits, I might have actually been able to finish this one too. Sadly, I could not, though I did skim the majority of it. Twilight I can understand, the fascination with this? I cannot.
4. The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan. POST APOCALYPTIC ZOMBIES. THIS SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN BAD. And yet it WAS because NO ONE BOTHERS TO MAKE PEOPLE LIKEABLE ANYMORE. Seriously. By the time the ending came around, I wanted to turn into a zombie just so I could KILL EVERYONE.
5. Born of Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon. I will admit to loving me some Dark Hunter books. They're strange and they muck up mythology something fierce, but since I don't feel a deep and abiding connection to Greek and Roman gods I don't mind so much. But SPACE? Omg, do I know space. And it is PAINFULLY OBVIOUS when reading this book that Sherrilyn Kenyon DOES NOT KNOW SPACE.
6. The Thirteenth House by Sharon Shinn. Much as it pains me to put a Sharon Shinn anywhere on a least favorite list, this book just did not do it for me. She took characters that I absolutely ADORED and put them in an extramarital affair and proceeded to make that the grand romance of the book. SO. DUMB.
7. Why I'm Like This by Cynthia Kaplan. I'm really glad that the time I went to a store with the intention to buy this book, it was nowhere to be found. I borrowed it from the store and was SO HAPPY that I had not put down money for it ever. The first page of this book is witty and hilarious and promises so much that the rest of the book never bothers to live up to. All in all, a pretty disappointing read.
8. If Angels Burn by Lynn Viehl. Like every romance novel I read this year is ending up on this list, but is it too much to ask for good writing from the trash I read? Maybe so. Anyway, I actually DID finish this one, if only so I could tell the woman that recommended this to me that I had. Really awful writing, really stupid characters, REALLY stupid mythology, not interesting at all.
9. Sea Glass by Maria V. Snyder. I loved her first trilogy, and was disappointed with this one. The main character is rather minor and uninteresting in the first trilogy, and she doesn't get any more interesting in this story. Plus OMG, she has a backbone made of jelly. PLUS. OMG. So this guy kidnaps her and tortures her in the first trilogy, and then is made a sympathetic and SUPPOSEDLY likeable character in this one, and at some point tells her that those days he spent torturing her were the happiest in his life. And she somehow finds that ENDEARING. WTF?
10. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer. It's a reread, so it doesn't really belong here, but WHATEVER. I still hate this book, and I hate Jacob in this book, and I can't understand why I keep inflicting it on myself.
*(I may have mentioned a time or two hundred that I hate first person POV. But here I am, mentioning it again. It's not always true, but it is the POV most often completely fucked up by people who don't know what they're doing.)
That list made me very shouty. ON TO THE TOP TEN, BECAUSE THIS LIST WILL BE HAPPIER.
In no particular order:
1. Generation Kill by Evan Wright. Perfect complement to the miniseries. It expounds a lot upon the story line given there. Also, I love the way Evan Wright writes. :)
2. Reader and Raelynx by Sharon Shinn. This is where Sharon Shinn belongs. On my favorites list! It just makes me sad that to get to this book, I had to read the other. Anyway, I ended up liking much more about this series than I disliked, and Sharon Shinn more than made up for the awfulness of the second with the awesomeness of the third and fourth.
3. Graceling by Kristin Cashore. An interesting first novel. I liked the idea of "graces," how they worked within the society. I really enjoyed the character development.
4. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. This was never ever going to live up to the hype of the guy that recommended it to me, but I did enjoy it. It's a very incomplete first novel in an as yet unfinished trilogy, but the world it sets up is interesting, the character is intriguing, and it does not lack for detail at all. If it holds up in the next two novels, it may go up in my estimation.
5. The Sharing Knife: Horizon by Lois McMaster Bujold. The last in a series I've been following as they're published. The ending was a little abrupt, but it was hard won and satisfying all the same.
6. Old Man's War by John Scalzi. Oh man, one of my favorite discoveries of '09. I really, really love this guy's writing. He's funny without seeming to try too hard (coughchristophermooresuckscough), and the world building is PHENOMENAL. It's a really interesting look at a potential future.
7. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. The book that cemented my love of lurid gothic novels. Oh man, so much love.
8. Impossible by Nancy Werlin. This book was not without its flaws. It rushed too much on things that were too interesting. She wanted to fit a particular formula, and I think tried too hard in places to make the story she'd created fit the formula. But for all that, it's really a lovely book, and has the most ADORABLE part ever, where this boy thinks about how much he loves this girl. ADORABLE.
9. What Happens In London by Julia Quinn. I feel like this should get a mention, because I read some of it sitting in the break room at work and actually laughed out loud, because it was so funny and awesome. Julia Quinn gives me hope for the romance genre. She is witty and awesome.
10. Columbine by Dave Cullen. It wasn't a particular favorite, and I still have problems with the way he organized the book, but I'm glad it exists and that I read it. I think a lot of the things in it needed to be said, a lot of the lies that spun out from that tragedy needed to be countered, and a lot of things needed to be put to rest.
I've already finished two books this year, one for each of these lists. Can I just say? I really hope that Audrey Niffenegger does not end up as a one hit wonder. I loved Time-Traveler's Wife with a deep abiding love, but her second book was loathsome. Robin Hobb, however, is AWESOME.