Darn...one book shy of 100...I regretfully must report that I almost made 100 books this year, which would've been a first for me. I had three weeks off and should've easily reached my goal but instead I was too tied up with Christmas preparations, a visit up to Northern California to see my family, getting a water main fixed at the house and basically no inclination to read. Well, 99 isn't a bad amount and it wasn't like I set the goal for 100; it just became my goal when I was sooooo close.
I really enjoyed the books I read this year there were only a few I didn't enjoy. I enjoyed several of the books involving animals that I read this year. Such as Marley and Me, God of Animals, The Plague Dogs, The Labrador Pact, Water for Elephants, and The Darkest Evening of the Year. I obviously enjoyed several Dean Koontz books and Greg Iles became an author that will definitely be on my reading list in 2009. Of course, I, like many got caught up in the Twilight saga but, I still haven't seen the movie. Lovely Bones was also a book I enjoyed more than I thought I would. What books did you particularly enjoy in 2008?
Hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year's!
Books Read in 2008
- By the Light of the Moon, Dean Koontz
- Odd Hours, Dean Koontz
- Echo Park, Michael Connelly (good book)
- Stars, Kathryn Harvey
- Don't Scream, Wendy Corsi Staub
- True Evil, Greg Iles (great thriller)
- Outer Banks, Anne River Siddons
- Deja Dead, Kathy Reichs
- O is for Outlaw, Susan Grafton
- Hearts in Atlantis, Stephen King
- Butterfly, Kathryn Harvey
- Cry No More, Linda Howard
- I Don't Know How She Does It, Allison Pearson
- Body Surfing, Anita Shreve
- The Host, Stephanie Meyer
- Tigress, Jennifer Blake
- The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
- The Opposite of Love, Julie Buxbaum
- Vanish, Tess Gerritsen
- Northern Lights, Nora Roberts
- Prior Bad Acts, Tami Hoag
- Wild Fire, Nelson DeMille
- Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- Bergdorf Blondes, Plum Sykes
- Killer Dreams, Iris Johansen
- Third Degree, Greg Iles
- Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden (good read)
- The Honk and Holler Opening Soon, Billie Letts
- Where the Heart Is, Billie Letts
- Summer Sisters, Judy Blume
- Back When We Were Grown-ups, Anne Tyler
- The Beach House, James Patterson
- True Betrayals, Nora Roberts
- Brother Odd, Dean Koontz
- Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen
- You've Been Warned, James Patterson
- Blood Test, Jonathan Kellerman (blah)
- The Quickie, James Patterson (twists & turns)
- Forever Odd, Dean Koontz
- Odd Thomas, Dean Koontz
- 74 Seaside Avenue, Debbie Macomber
- Key of Light, Nora Roberts (mediocre)
- Breaking Dawn, Stephenie Meyer
- Eclipse, Stephenie Meyer
- New Moon, Stephenie Meyer
- Twilight, Stephenie Meyer
- Lost and Found, Jacqueline Sheenan
- Fearsome Fourteen, Janet Evanovich
- Lean Mean Thirteen, Janet Evanovich
- Twelve Sharp, Janet Evanovich
- Eleven on Top, Janet Evanovich
- Ten Big Ones, Janet Evanovich
- Sleep No More, Greg Iles
- To the Nines, Janet Evanovich
- Hard Eight, Janet Evanovich
- Seven Up, Janet Evanovich
- Hot Six, Janet Evanovich
- High Five, Janet Evanovich
- Four to Score, Janet Evanovich
- Hold Tight, Harlan Coben
- Three to Get Deadly, Janet Evanovich
- Two for the Dough, Janet Evanovich
- One for the Money, Janet Evanovich
- Life Expectancy, Dean Koontz
- Twenty Wishes, Debbie Macomber
- Gone for Good, Harlan Coben (good mystery)
- 6 Ranier Drive, Debbie Macomber
- Seize the Night, Dean Koontz
- The Good Guy, Dean Koontz (great book--thanks Janet!)
- 50 Harbor Street, Debbie Macomber
- Fear Nothing, Dean Koontz
- 44 Cranberry Point, Debbie Macomber
- The Husband, Dean Koontz
- The Labrador Pact, Matt Haig (hated the ending!)
- Beginner's Greek, James Collins
- No! I Don't Want to Join a Bookclub!, Virginia Ironside (humorous)
- The Secret of Lost Things, Sheridan Hay (didn't like it)
- Change of Heart, Jodi Piccoult
- God of Animals, Aryn Kyle
- One Door Away from Heaven, Dean Koontz
- The Plague Dogs, Richard Adams
- The Breathtaker, Alice Blanchard
- The Finishing School, Michele Martinez
- Velocity, Dean Koontz
- 311 Pelican Road, Debbie Macomber
- Good Grief, Lolly Winston
- Obedience, Will Lavendar
- The Darkest Evening of the Year, Dean Koontz
- 204 Rosewood Lane, Debbie Macomber
- Nineteen Minutes, Jodi Piccoult
- 16 Lighthouse Road, Debbie Macomber
- Back on Blossom Street, Debbie Macomber
- Marley and Me, John Grogan
- 18 Seconds, James Collins
- A Good Yarn, Debbie Macomber
- Walking in Circles, Before Lying Down, Merrill Markoe
- The Daring Book for Girls, Andrea J. Buchanan and Miriam Peskowitz
- Pigs in Heaven, Barbara Kingsolver
- Wouldn't Trade Nothing for My Journey Now, Maya Angelou
By the Light of the Moon by Dean Koontz is definitely worth a read! As almost all of his stories do, this one captured my attention from the first chapter. I started reading it on Saturday and had it finished by 5 p.m. today. Interesting characters and a great plot. If you like mystery and adventure and don't mind a little science fiction then you should pick up this book! Heck, a year ago I would've said I wouldn't read anything sci-fi but, the way Dean Koontz carefully threads it into the everyday life of his characters, it makes science fiction seem believable.
Front cover quote: Life has no meaning except in terms of responsibility --Faith and History, Reinhold Niebuhr.
First sentence: "Shortly before being knocked unconscious and bound to a chair, before being injected with an unknown substance against his will, and before discovering that the world was deeply mysterious in ways he'd never before imagined, Dylan O'Conner left his motel room and walked across the highway to a brightly lighted fast-food restaurant to buy cheeseburgers, French fires, pocket pies with apple filling, and a vanilla milkshake."
Er...or rather the Twilight saga....this post explains why I've been MIA for so long. Between Stephanie Plum and Twilight I've kinda been spending all summer reading.
Oh my gosh, if someone had told me that I would be so wrapped up in these young adult fiction vampire stories I would've told them they had my reading personality all WRONG! Yet before I really knew the books were young adult fiction and before I knew the stories included vampires I kept seeing the book covers all over the place. The dark black book covers with the stark red picture ...somehow I was drawn to the books. Yes, I'm super prone to judging books by their covers. Also my blogging buddy Alison suggested I read them. So what the heck I gave it a try.
The first book Twilight, I borrowed from my boss' daughter. That was on a Thursday, by Saturday night at 9:30 p.m. I had searched the nearby Target and they were completely sold out. I went to the Barnes and Noble and they had a whole table dedicated to the Twilight saga! Yippee! I had New Moon and Eclipse in my hot little hands ready to fork over my hard cash as long as I could run for the door to continue reading! When I wasn't reading, Bella, Edward, Jacob, Charlie, Alice, Jasper, Sam and Emmett were racing through my dreams at night. This is crazy!
So I'm done with the third book and I've already been again to the nearby Target that is SOLD OUT of BREAKING DAWN! THE HORROR!!!!! Urrrrgh! Target needs new inventory control clerks! So, I opted for Stephenie Meyer's THE HOST. I've read through the first chapter and it hasn't grasped my attention yet. How could it? I still have the Twilight gang on my mind.
So looks like another late night trek across the city to B&N....I just gotta get it...Breaking Dawn I expect will be in my hands in the next hour or so. I'm not saying that Stephenie Meyer's is an awesome writer or that she's not I'm just saying these books really pulled me in and kept me entertained. This is the last in the series I heard...I don't know what I'll do when I finish the series.
Any suggestions?
Its gonna be soooo funny when I'm sitting in a theater on Nov. 21st to see Twilight the movie with no young teens of my own. Hmmm...maybe I can borrow my boss' kids. LOL
Just wanted to send a shout out to Alisonwonderland for leaving several comments. She's writes in the So Many Books So Little Time blog (her link is in my sidebar). I'm not all that great with links yet but I will learn to post them in my actual writing soon. Anyway, thanks Alisoninwonderland for letting me know I'm not all alone out here in the blogosphere.
I'm glad its Saturday, I slept in, surfed the net, didn't really accomplish much of anything else today so far. Its cool and windy here today which is nice. I like the Fall weather but I heard next week is supposed to feel like summer again. Not so good since I just brought out all my warm fall clothes. lol. Guess I'm just going to go with the lazy Saturday attitude today, pull out my current book Tales of a Female Nomad and possibly move on to my next book, From Baghdad With Love, A Marine, the War and a Dog named Lava. Come on look at Lava's little face, who wouldn't want to read about the little guy!
In case you haven't figured it out I'm a big dog lover. My beautiful girl, Karina is in my main blog photo. I got her from Petfinder.com when she was six years old, she's seven now.
The other book I want to read is Marley and Me. Also about a dog. I've been reading more non-fiction lately. Not sure why. Anyway, Marley and Me seems to have great reviews and it was sold out at the local B&N so I think I'm going to try to find it at the local library. Has anyone read either book? Anyone have any suggestions for future reads?
Have a great Saturday!!
