Challenge: 50 Books discussion

Back for another year in which I shall attempt to ONLY read 50 books. Hahaha.

1. Fatal Strike, Shannon McKenna. New year treat of over the top crazy.
2. Kinked, Thea Harrison. LOVE this series. LOVED this book. And despite the title, that's not what it's about.
3. Hard As It Gets, Laura Kaye.

glad to see you back for another round of cake!

Now that I have a PC in the house and don't have to squeeze it in at work, how could I not? Really got to work on that avatar thing, though. Glad to see you're still here challenging yourself. Read anything good lately?

4. River Road, Jayne Ann Krentz. Finally a book in her classic style. Devoured it.

5. The Last Dead Girl, Harry Dolan. My favorite mystery writer takes us back in time to meet David Loogan before he changed his name - and this isn't the story of why. It predates that as well. Interesting concept, still ruminating on how I feel about the way it was presented, giving us a seperate story to reveal information David has no way of discovering.

6. Hope Flames, Jaci Burton. Really, it's all about the dogs.

7. The Luckiest Lady in London, Sherry Thomas. She is simply one of the best historical romance writers ever.

8. Agnes Grey, Anne Bronte. Decided it was time to give the third Bronte sister a try.

"..reformed rakes make the best husbands, everybody knows." This was a common enough saying in the 18th century, so I don't know why I was surprised to find it here in Bronte's moral little tome about the life of a governess. Contrary to what would happen in a modern historical romance, she doesn't end up with one, though.

9. The Secret History, Donna Tartt.

I'm going to have to pick up the pace. Dad's hip surgery is really cutting into my reading time. :)

10. Someone Else's Love Story, Joshilyn Jackson.
"The radish is happy."
Really enjoyed this once I got past the shifting narrative perspective - first person to third. About half way through it finally occurred to me: you can tell your own story in first person, but not someone else's. Anyway, lovely book, and a wonderful love story.

11. Bitter Spirits, Jenn Bennett.
"Sure, he'd been thinking about her a lot - too much - but he thought a lot about bacon, too."

Who could resist a bacon loving bootlegger? Not me.

Wow, first quarter already over!!! Time to recap:
Books read: 11-this may a record for lowest amount ever.
Fiction: all of them. Gotta work on that non-fic number.
Romance: 7
Mystery: 1
Contemporary Fiction with romantic elements: 1
Contemporary Fiction without romantic elements: 1
Classic: 1

12. Marked, Anthology picked up for the Lauren Dane novella, and the other two included were pretty readable.

13.Mystic Tea, Rea Nolan Martin. A Goodreads FirstRead score.

"God plants his strongest seeds in the darkest soil."
And sometimes a recovering addict postulate nun.

14. Hyperbole and a Half: unfortunate situations, flawed coping mechanisms, mayhem and other things that happened. Allie Brosh.

Made me laugh out loud at 6:30 in the morning and contains one of the best descriptions of depression I have ever read.

Nhever say nhever.

15. The King, J.R. Ward.

Oh, the shame. Oh, the hours I will never get back. Wrath was the only thing about this serhies that could phull me back in, and it whasn't whorth it.

Look, I finally figured it out!!

16. Dangerous Women, edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois. Don't get it for the GRRM story of how Westeros lost its dragons. Get it for "Neighbors" by Megan Lindholm, "My Heart Is Either Broken" by Megan Abbott and "Bombshell" by Jim Butcher, in which he drops one, and a dozen other really good stories with varying definitions of what constitutes a dangerous woman.

17. The Butterfly Cabinet, Bernie McGill.

"We are the ghosts of all the people we might have become, peering forward to try to catch a glimpse of what could be, our future selves staring back at us, at who we might have been, never were."

Donna wrote: "Look, I finally figured it out!!

16. Dangerous Women, edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois. Don't get it for the GRRM story of how Westeros lost its ..."

Yay! Good work with the imported book cover link. Do you always put a quote? I like it! I wonder, do you mark them while you are reading?

Not always, sometimes a line just sticks out, and I think, "I really need to remember that line.", but I never do. I ended up putting them in reviews or on the challenge post because I can't find the journal I bought for exactly this purpose. You can mark the page? What a concept! Mostly I just thumb through the book over and over till I find it again. :)

And look now, I figured out the avatar thing, too!! This is a temporary one, still searching for the perfect one. Guess I should change the title of my thread...

I don't mark pages. I read books in paper format only. No e-books for me. I just wondered if you worked with paper strips or if you indeed leaf through the book to find the wanted passage.

Perhaps you should indeed change the title, since you now conquered the avatar and book cover link issues.

17. Otherwise Engaged by Amanda Quick.
"Why did you fall in love with me?"
"I have no idea."

16. It Happened One Wedding by the incomparable Julie James and courtesy of the Goodreads FirstReads giveaways. I love you all.

I wanted to put a quote here, and this book is just so quotable, but I'd end up retyping an entire page because one sparkling bit of snappy dialogue just leads to another one. And the hijinks, oh the hijinks they ensue. And there's the oh so authentic Chicago setting, including the emergency plane landing on Lake Shore Drive. You can Google it. LOVED this book!

17. Go Ask Alice, "anonymous".
18. Crank, Ellen Hopkins.

I saw a blurb about "Crank" calling it the new "Go Ask Alice" and felt the need to see if it's true, as I have a teenager of the 70's affection for the later. I would say, yes, it's a fair comparison,

19. by Elizabeth Hoyt.

20. Bite Me, Shelly Laurenston.

"She sighed as if she'd realized the worst thing imaginable. 'We're going to be together and in love forever, aren't we?'
'Probably.'
'That's so f*****g typical of my life," she spat out. "I can never get a break.'"

21. Shadow Spell, Nora Roberts.

22. Carved in Stone, Donna McDonald. Free on my Kindle. Got what I paid for.

23. A Little Night Magic, Lucy March.

24. Fangirl, Rainbow Rowell. I let the squeeing word of mouth keep me away from this one way too long. Wonderful read.

25. Wild Child, Molly O'Keefe. And sometimes those Kindle Deals are awesome.

"'Then you know it doesn't take any courage to expect the worst, but to try...' He whistled, as if there were just no words for how hard it was to try to be happy.'"

Back from Arizona. Where to start...

26. The Collector, Nora Roberts.

27. The Governess Affair, Courtney Milan. So good I read it on the flight out and the flight back.

"I am done with things happening to me. From here on out, I am going to happen to things."

28. Dragos Takes A Holiday, Thea Harrison. And you think your toddler is a handful.

29. The Baron and the Bluestocking, G.G. Vandergriff. Historical romance in the classic style.

30. Unraveled, Courtney Milan, on whom I have a huge girl crush.
Why? Well there's this:

"It seemed to be a matter of basic common sense. When one is threatened by a shadowy criminal figure, one goes to the magistrate that shares one's bed rather than the shadowy criminal figure."

No heroine is TSTL in a Courtney Milan novel.

31. The Professional, Kresley Cole. When a writer I normally love can't bring anything new or appealing to this sub-genre, it's time to stick a fork in it.

32. Shadowdance, Kristen Callihan. Darkest London #4.

Oh, the feels I have for this series!!

"They were twined together, Jack's thigh between her legs, her arms wrapped around his shoulder and around his waist, his arms doing the same. Though it did not feel sexual, not at that moment. It felt peaceful. And she could not help but think of them as two strings, wound up tight to become rope, and stronger for it."

Second quarter round up:
Books read: 24, well that's more like it.
Fiction: 23
Non-fiction: 1, better than none.
Romance: 16
Mystery: 2
Anthology: 2
Novellas: 2
Contemporary Fiction with romantic elements: 2
Contemporary Fiction without romantic elements: 3
Wish I hadn't bothered: 2

33. One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Another one off that pesky books you should read before you die list.

This is a book that's been on my list for years. It never feels like it's the right time to read it. I hate books that I feel are a "should be read".

Donna wrote: "33. One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Another one off that pesky books you should read before you die list."

I agree, "should read" always seems to equal boring in my mind. Of course, when you finally read them, that isn't generally the case. This one took me a loooong time to finish, not because I found it boring, just full of complicated symbolism. I'm not good with symbolism.

34. Shades of Milk and Honey, Mary Robinette Kowal.

Inevitable references to Jane Austen are warranted, but they are not comparable works. Still an enjoyable read with a nice little love story at the end.

35. Shield of Winter, Nalini Singh.

36. How to School Your Scoundrel, Juliana Gray.

A change of perspective on the scoundrel from two of her previous books. A delight.

37. Mortal Arts, Anna Lee Huber. Mystery and romance beside the Firth of Forth. Now if that third book I scored through the FirstReads program would come, I'd be a happy woman

38. Grim Shadows, Jenn Bennet.

38. The Silkworm, Robert Galbraith. Second book better than the first. Really solid read.

39. Glamour in Glass, Mary Robinette Kowal. Breaks no new ground and yet soooo charming.

40. Air Bound, Christine Feehan. Disappointing.

41. Never Been Kissed, Molly O'Keefe. It is mind boggling how good this writer is. Oh, the feels, they are overwhelming.
42. Will Super Villians be on the Final?, Naomi Novik. Illustrations by Yishan Li.
High school students with super powers. What could go wrong?
43. Between the Sheets, Molly O'Keefe. I feel author stalking coming on.
44. Dark Skye, Kresley Cole.
"Don't know what tee em means."

And now a word from our sponsors:
45. The Things We Save, Joanne Ziety. A GoodReads First Reads score. If you all aren't trying to get books through this program, you are missing out. They've been some of my favorites and this one, which had such an authentic setting I felt nostalgia for my childhood, is high on the list.

"Once upon a time there was a girl who saw dead boys as if they were living, smiled at them, danced with them , made love to them. Then she met someone who eventually made the dead boys go away. And they stayed away for a long time. But today one of them came back."

46. The Book of Life, Deborah Harkness. Wow, having half your face inflamed with shingles really knocks a person off their pace! Despite how long it took to get through the last 100 pages, this was a very satisfying conclusion to the All Souls Trilogy.

Donna - i know you like sci fi that isn't hard core and or aliens .... i wanted to recommend a Canadian author Robert Sawyer. his books are really accessible, easy to read but full of interesting ideas and moral debate.

Sooz, I have Flashforward on my tbr list, is this a good place to start, or do you have personal favorite to recommend? Keeping in mind it's probably on my list because you recommended it.

you know I don't think I've read anything by him I haven't liked. while the characters and plots in stories vary his style of writing doesn't so I'd say just pick one that has a premise that appeals to you.

47. Without A Summer, Mary Robinette Kowal. Enjoying these more as they go along, and this one had Luddites!

48. The Best Kind of Trouble, Lauren Dane.

49. The Half-Stitched Amish Quilting Club, Wanda E. Brunstetter. Look at that cover. How could I pass this up, even if it is not to my usual taste? A disparate group of troubled souls, and a biker find help for their troubled lives through the sage advice of their Amish teacher, prayer and quilting. I often find myself praying when I quilt, mostly along the line of: Please don't make me have to tear this seam out AGAIN!!!

So glad to hit the goal with a great book!

50. Butterfly Tattoo, Deirdre Knight.

"For some reason, kissing him there in that chilly ice-skating rink, I recall surfing. Riding high and charging the waves on my knees, free like the wind, like the unhindered little girl I used to be. Alex wanted me to surf so I'd understand that feeling, I think, because he lived that way. And so I'd recognize it when it came again for me, like it has today."

51. Baiting the Maid of Honor, Tessa Bailey.

52. Feel the Heat, Kate Meader. Sexy chef cooks for Italian girl who appreciates his ability to satisfy her appetites. Yum.

"Hurt made people act ten kinds of crazy, and while she was the kind of person who internalized her pain, Jack wore his emotions on his sleeve, then wanted to talk about the soiled shirt."

Third quarter round up time!
Books read: 21
Fiction: All of them
Non-fiction: I'm working on it. I swear!!
Romance: 10
Mystery: 2
Fantasy: 3
Graphic Novel: 1
Fiction w/romantic elements: 2
Fiction w/o romantic elements: 1
Classic: 1

53. The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination: Original Short Fiction for the Modern Evil Genius, edited by John Joseph Adams.

If I were going to be an evil genius, I'd have to go with either Seanan McGuire's Dr. Garrity or Carrie Vaughn's soon to be known as The Angel of Death.

Highly recommending this one. Except for the Diana Gabaldon not short story, which is really only for people with a working knowledge of her Outlander books. Pretty disjointed for the uninitiated.

54. The Return of the Soldier, Rebecca West.

A lot of themes and subtext packed into 188 pages about a shell-shocked soldier's return from the trenches of WWI. Really amazing little classic.

55. People Who Deserve It: Socially Responsible Reasons to Punch Someone in the Face, Casey Rand and Tim Gordon.

Not a funny as one might expect.

56. Please Fire Me, Adam Chromy and Jill Morris.

In the midst of reading this, the major reason I wanted to be fired got the axe herself. Timing is everything.

57. What I Love About You, Rachel Gibson.