One Book Shy of 100...Books Read in 2008

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 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."

Following alisonwonderlands lead...

I wasn't that enthused with Friday fill-in cause I didn't have answers for the questions so I'm going to follow alisonwonderland's lead on the question from Booking through Thursday:

Would you say that you read about the same amount now as when you were younger? More? Less? Why?

I read a lot less than I did when I was younger --only because of lack of time and too much responsibility. My dad, who was not much of a reader at the time and did not have the up-bringing that he and my mom gave me, made sure that reading was a big part of my life. He realized the importance of it and the joy it would bring me. He took me to the library once a week to let me check out books and greatly encouraged reading in my life. I love reading and would read a lot more if I had the time. I still do but not as much as I'd like to. When I was a teen I'd spend the whole weekend reading and I loved it!

Now, I work full-time...the couple of times when I've been single..., I have a difficult time concentrating on reading when I'm at home (its like I shouldn't be wasting time reading when I should be connecting with other humans, but I do read at lunch and at least an hour a night after work.

Thank you to my dad for the gift of reading he encouraged me so much. My mom did too...but my dad was really on the forefront of reading in my life. My reading, my studying was as a result of my Dad, he really wanted me to have the things that his parents didn't encourage enough in his life. He opened the world of reading and education to me and held the door open until it all engulfed me. I suggest other parents take the time to do that for their children as well!