I just love this time of year when all the Best of 2009 lists come out, don’t you? Amazon has released most of their Top 100, with their Top 10 to be announced on Monday. I have only read FOUR of these (bolded). I’ve asterixed the ones I’m most interested in reading. What are your guesses for the Top 10?
Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. Dark Fantasy. Gothic. Horror. Supernatural.
Carl’s R.I.P challenges are so much fun, but usually I just barely make the minimum required. I’m pretty proud of myself this year. Do you see the list below — I killed it (no pun intended)! I went with Peril the First, which was to read 4 books from any subgenre, but I ended up reading 22. Including mysteries and thrillers allowed me to read more books than I normally would, and I also really got into some series books as well — Twilight, Chief Inspector Gamache, Sookie Stackhouse, and the Hunger Games. I enjoyed all the books I read, but my favorites were the titles with a single asterix below. My least favorites were probably the Sookie Stackhouse books and the manga Vampire Knight. I really enjoyed Sookie at first, but then it just got into too much s*x and oc*ult stuff for my tastes and Vampire Knight was just okay. I doubt I’ll continue on with either series, but who knows by next year. The double asterixes are for those titles that best fit what I consider to be the mood of the R.I.P. Challenge.
Thanks so much, Carl, and I’ll look forward to next year!
J. Kaye hosted this challenge, which lasted all year and had 12 selections. I was getting worried awhile ago that I might not complete this challenge, but then toward the end of the year everything fell together rather quickly. I enjoyed reading all of these authors’ second books and do plan on reading a third on all of them (or already have in the case of Charlaine Harris and Louise Penny). My two favorites on this list were Unless and A Thousand Splendid Suns. Both were truly outstanding.
Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde (1st: The Eyre Affair)
The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (1st: The Shadow of the Wind)
Shanghai Girls by Lisa See (1st: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan)
Thanks, Debi for hosting this wonderful challenge again this year — it’s always fun to find book titles for this one. Of the books I read, I enjoyed The Housekeeper and the Professor the most and probably The Optimist’s Daughter the least.
It was fun to read both The Hunger Games and Catching Fire back-to-back for the read-a-thon. I’m glad I didn’t have a long wait between the first two books of the trilogy, but obviously I’ll have a longer wait for the third book to come out. The bad part is, the cliffhanger between 2 and 3 is quite a bit greater than from 1 to 2 in my opinion. I do look forward to reading the next book.
I liked this sequel about the same as the first book and both books received a rating of 4 stars. As I said in my post about The Hunger Games, though, I still feel there are some better written young adult dystopian books out there. However, this series, though a bit dark and violent, will definitely keep you going until the very last page.
2009, 391 pp.
Disclosure: I received this book from a promotional company (but after I had already purchased The Hunger Games).
You will not believe the amount of reviews I have to write. The list below isn’t even complete! I’ve seen some other bloggers ask for questions on certain books that they will answer in their review post, so I thought I’d try that out as well. Please help me get out of my review backlog quagmire by asking me some questions about the following books. I will be in your debt! I’ve put my star ratings for each book below so you can guage my general reactions. Please, ASK AWAY!!
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them. (Psalm 145:18-19, ESV)