CindyG

2014 goal is 36 books

Read to date (12/31/14):

1. The Great Gatsby
2. The Stockholm Octavo
3. Agnes Grey
4. New Earth
5. Jane Eyre
6. Command Authority (Audio book)
7. Wuthering Heights
8. The Hero of Ages
9. Faro's Daughter
10. Against All Enemies (Audio book)
11. The Transformation of Things 
12. Blood Memory
13. The Alloy of Law
14. The Wild Shore
15. The Fourth Protocol (Audio book)
16. Persuasion (Audio book)
17. The Gold Coast
18. Pacific Edge
19. The Eye of the Needle (Audio book)
20. The Phantom of the Opera (Audio book)
21. The Fault in Our Stars
22. Shock Wave (Audio book)
23. Pushing Ice  (Audio book)
24. Sharp Objects 
25. Hornet Flight (Audio book)
26. Sycamore Row
27. Northanger Abbey (Audio book)
28. Solaris (Audio book)
29. The Firebird
30. Tess of the d'Urbervilles (Audio book)
31. The War of the Worlds
32. Brightness Reef
33. The Winds of War (Audio book)
34. Shadow Prey (Audio book)
    
35. Rules of Prey (Audio book)
36. Paris
37. Executive Privilege (Audio book)
38. Shaman
39. Around the World in 80 Days
40. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
41. The Hobbit
42. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Sprig Muslin - Delightful and charming! I've enjoyed the other Heyers I've read, but this one is my favorite by far. 

The Phantom of the Opera - Audio book. I'm a bit embarrassed that I was only vaguely familiar with the story. Very enjoyable! Audio book.

Mary Poppins - Not what I was expecting, and I liked it more than I would have if it had been what I was expecting. If I've seen the movie, it was more than 30 years ago, so I only have a fuzzy impression of a Disneyfied, syrupy-sweet Mary, and this Mary isn't Disneyfied at all!

The Fault in Our Stars - Not great, lasting literature, but compelling. I couldn't put it down. I balked at the insta-love, but once I accepted that, I was hooked.

Red Storm Rising - A comfort book. An old favorite. Audio book this time.

Written in My Own Heart's Blood - Not sure how I feel about this one. The "blue light" business was a step too far. I can suspend my disbelief enough to allow for time travel through the stones, but not the blue light stuff. I did like the ending - it allows room for more, but also could be the ending of the series.

Shock Wave - Audio book. These are a guilty pleasure. Predictable, formulaic, but still enjoyable.

Pushing Ice - Audio book. I liked it, although I found the characters to be unrealistic.

Brightness Reef - I made it through a few chapters in June.

A light month - I'll have family visiting for a couple of weeks.

Brightness Reef - The first of the Uplift War trilogy. I like this book, but I'm having a hard time getting (and staying) into it, if that makes any sense.

The Grand Sophy - I've really enjoyed the Georgette Heyer books I've read.

The Guns of August - To commemorate the start of WWI.

Hornet Flight - Audio book. WWII spy thriller.

Mt. TBR Books: Brightness Reef, Hornet Flight

Brightness Reef - Carry over from May.

Infinity's Shore - Chippin' away at Mt. TBR. (We needn't discuss the books that will be eligible for 2015's Mt. TBR, right?)

Sprig Muslin - Something light and fun.

Written in My Own Heart's Blood - Squeeeee!

Phantom of the Opera - Knitting audio book.

Shock Wave - Treadmill audio book.

The Fault in Our Stars - My niece read this and loved it. I love that I'm getting book recs from her! 

Mt. TBR Books: Brightness Reef, Infinity's Shore, Phantom of the Opera, The Fault in Our Stars, Shock Wave

Persuasion - Lovely. Nice to have a "mature" heroine. Audio book.

The Gold Coast - My least favorite book of the triptych. Didn't like this version of the future one bit. Most likely to occur, maybe?

Pacific Edge - Much more enjoyable than TGC! Much more engrossing story, more likable characters...  Each version of the future presented in the three stories (Wild California, The Gold Coast, and Pacific Edge) is disturbing its own way, but I disliked the version presented in TGC the most.

Doctor Zhivago - Sweeping Russian epic, written by a poet. Stunning. Engrossing. Breath-taking. There were a great number of coincidences, though - too many to be plausible to me. And I didn't like Yuri or Lara. Still, the book worked for me. I suspect that's very much due to the Omar Sharif film.

Eye of the Needle - WWII spy story. These suck me in every.single.time. Audio book.

Brightness Reef - I've been meaning to read this for a couple of years now - ever since I finally read the first Uplift books. In progress, and I'm really enjoying it.

An Echo in the Bone - Catching up with the Frasers and the MacKenzies. Audio book.

A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows and The Space Between - Outlander novellas.

Mt. TBR Books: Persuasion, The Gold Coast, Pacific Edge, The Eye of the Needle, Brightness Reef 

Dr. Zhivago - Can't wait to read this again. I read it when I was a teen, so it will be all fresh and new. Then I'll watch the movie with Omar Sharif! ~swoon~

The Gold Coast - Carry over from April. The second of The Wild Shore Triptych.

Pacific Edge - The third of The Wild Shore Triptych.

Brightness Reef - The first of the Uplift Storm Trilogy.

Eye of the Needle - Treadmill audio book.

Persuasion - Knitting audio book.

Mt. TBR Books: The Gold Coast, Pacific Edge, Brightness Reef, Eye of the Needle, Persuasion

Daniel Deronda - DNF. I just couldn't stand Gwendolen. 

The Scarlet Pimpernel - Fun, although I don't think I'll read the rest of the books.

The Quiet Gentleman - I really enjoyed this! I need to read more Heyer.

The Fourth Protocol - Spy thriller set in 1987, which was interesting. Some things have changed; some thongs haven't. 

The Gold Coast - I'm only about a third of the way in, but am enjoying this. It's not quite as unputdownable as The Wild Shore, though.

Mt. TBR books: The Gold Coast, The Fourth Protocol

I'm done.

Gwendolen just annoys me too much. Spoiled, whiny, sniveling, shallow Gwendolen. I thought an audio version would help, but while I enjoyed the narrator, I came to despise Gwendolen even more.

I may try again in a few months, but then again, I may not.

I really wanted to like this - George Eliot has such a wonderful way with words. I loved the writing in Middlemarch, although I disliked those characters too. I'd hoped Daniel Deronda would be different - that I could love the whole book.

But no. Not now. Now, I just want to throw my Kindle across the room.

The Scarlet Pimpernel - A DWS group read.

The Quiet Gentleman - A DWS buddy read.

Daniel Deronda - The book that will.not.end. I swear it's getting longer.

The Gold Coast - A Mt. TBR book. Number 2 in the Three Californias Triptych.

The Fourth Protocol - Audio book. I didn't make any progress to speak of with this in March. 

Mt. TBR Books:  The Gold Coast, The Fourth Protocol

The Countess Conspiracy - Light and cute.

The Alloy of Law - Quite different from the other Mistborn books, which I was expecting. Enjoyable, but I'd have liked to have learned why Mistborns seem to have died out. And more about Twinborns' abilities and varieties. That all could have been fleshed out more, I think.

Daniel Deronda - On the verge of giving up on this one. I'm just not enjoying it very much. I'll give it a couple more weeks to grab me.

The Magician's Nephew and The Last Battle - I liked these, but they aren't my favorites. In fact, I think The Last Battle is my least favorite of the series. So glad to have reread these childhood favorites, though!

Blood Memory - The first person present was jarring at first, but the story was so engrossing I quit noticing it.

The Wild Shore - Could.Not.Put.This.Down. Can't wait to read the other two in the triptych.

A Breath of Snow and Ashes - Audio book. I'm listening to these in anticipation of the release of MOBY.

The Fourth Protocol - Audio book. Haven't made much progress with this, but should finish it by the end of the week.

Mt. TBR books: The Alloy of Law, Blood Memory, The Wild Shore, The Fourth Protocol

Sigh. I'm officially throwing in the towel on Arthur. I may or may not ever pick it up at some point in the (far distant) future.

There are too many other books out there for me to keep agonizing over this one.

All this kerfluffle over reviews has me thinking about how I use reviews as a reader. 

I'm not an author. I'm not an aspiring author. While I love books and reading, I have no desire whatsoever to write a book myself. I'm also not a reviewer. (It seems important to say that.)

So how do I use reviews? Sparingly. With a healthy dash of skepticism. And with the primary focus on what I like and don't like to read.

Le Morte - For the DWS group read. I'll give this a couple more weeks....

Daniel Deronda - Still working on this.

The Transformation of Things - Carryover from February - will finish over the weekend.

The Alloy of Law - Looking forward to this after The Hero of Ages.

The Magician's Nephew and The Last Battle - For the Narnia group reread.

The Fourth Protocol - Audio book. 

A Breath of Snow and Ashes - Audio book. I'm listening to these so I'm up to speed when the new book is released later this year.

Mt TBR Books:  The Alloy of Law, The Transformation of Things, The Fourth Protocol

Wuthering Heights - So dark and twisted! I didn't see it as a love story of any kind - it seemed most of the major characters hated each other, including Cathy and Heathcliff. I must read this again, though. It's that kind of book. 

The Hero of Ages - Much better than I expected. Of course, after The Well of Ascension, I wasn't expecting much. I was pleasantly surprised - this was as good as Mistborn.

Faro's Daughter - A light, fun read. I was expecting Arabella to be married off to Kit, though. Will probably pick up other Georgette Heyer romances if I see a sale.

Against All Enemies - Awful! Just awful! Laughably bad! I kept on with it hoping Clancy's voice would emerge and out of nostalgia for my favorite Clancy novels. Overwritten, florid prose. I spent the last third of the book laughing at it.

The Silver Chair and The Horse and His Boy - Both for the DWS Narnia group read. I'm enjoying the Narnia books as much now as I did lo those many years ago.

I'm on the verge of calling it quits on Le Morte d'Arthur. I'm not a fan of the King Arthur legend, and this book just isn't working for me. On the other hand, I haven't given it a fair chance. I'll give it a couple more weeks....

Still plugging away with Daniel Deronda. So far, it's better than Middlemarch, so there's that.

The Transformation of Things - A Mt. TBR book, otherwise I think I'd give up on it. I started it when I needed a light, easy read, and it's certainly that. Not unputdownable, though. I'm at about the 50% mark - should finish it tomorrow.

2014 Mt. TBR: Wuthering Heights, The Hero of Ages, Faro's Daughter, Against All Enemies, The Transformation of Things

Jumping on the bandwagon....

1.) I've lived in eight states - two of them three different times, and one twice. Until I was in my mid-thirties, I'd never lived in the same house for more than five years. 

2.) I moved so much when I was growing up that I don't feel I have a "home town." 

3.) I've always been extremely quiet and reserved with people I don't know.

4.) Coming up with 10 things about me to post on the Internet is extremely difficult.

5.) I don't have (or want) children. I like children - I just want to be able to give them back.

6.) Babies terrify me. I'd rather try to "reason" with a two-year-old than look after a baby.

7.) I've loved books and reading my whole life. Because of this, I didn't study literature in college; I didn't want lit classes to ruin my love of reading.

8.) I stopped dating men who were jealous of the time I spent reading. I don't regret this at all.

9.) My husband and I packed several books between the two of us for our honeymoon. And still browsed bookstores.

10.) I've used books to avoid having to interact with people my whole life. It's a bit odd to now use books to connect with people. Odd but good.

I wasn't really excited about reading The Hero of Ages. I loved Mistborn, but was so disgusted by the ending of The Well of Ascension that I nearly threw my Kindle down. But  HoA was on my 2014 Mt. TBR list, and I figured I'd give it a chance. I'm glad I did.

Despite rolling my eyes at Elend until the last two or three chapters, I loved HoA. Almost as much as Mistborn. In fact, it makes the slog that was Ascension worth it. 

This might go in the reread stack - I spent much of the book trying to figure out how the pieces would fit together. Now that I know the ending, I can go back and fill in the gaps.

I'm looking forward to The Alloy of Law.