75 Books...More or Less! discussion
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Stacie's 2018
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Stacie
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Dec 08, 2017 10:58AM
Getting ready for another glorious year of reading! I'm going to shoot for 80 again in 2018.
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Good luck and HAPPY READING Stacie!
1.
The Hobbit: Or There and Back Again I own this in every format- audio, paperback, leather-bound hardback. Each version is a different experience. This time I read the hardback: shiny green leather, gold and red foil stamped binding, green speckling on the edges, thick white pages... this edition is a treat!317 pages
2.
Player's Handbook The art is lovely and the revised rules aren't too clunky, but I don't like the layout as well as my beloved 2nd edition. I do want to get my hands on the updated Monster Manual, though!320 pages
Pretty sure that's the same edition my husband has. He has fancy versions of The Hobbit and LOTR, but I can't bring myself to read them! I've gotten them out of the library instead.
Charleen wrote: "Pretty sure that's the same edition my husband has. He has fancy versions of The Hobbit and LOTR, but I can't bring myself to read them! I've gotten them out of the library instead."For me, there is something decadent about reading this edition- it's kind of like drinking a cup of hot chocolate made from milk and real chocolate, versus a cup of Swiss Miss. Both are delicious, but entirely different experiences.
Mod
Player's Handbook The art is lovely and the revised rules aren't too clunky, but I don't like the layout as well as my beloved 2nd edition. ..."My hubs has all of them! Every time a new edition comes out. Gets pricey! lol
Mod
What a lovely way to put it!!
3.
The Fifth Season OMG. OMGOMGOMG! I forgot how much I liked Jemison's writing. How on earth could I have forgotten? Yes, she improves her skills with each new book, but there's something in the way that she builds her worlds and her characters that is familiar enough to be relatable and different enough to be new and wondrous.15 hrs 31 mins
4.
The Swords of Glass I liked the art very much. The writing? Not so much. Even taking into account that this is translated from it's original language the writing is still bad. 204 pages
5.
Spread, Vol. 1: No Hope A fun horror comic, reminiscent of the Tales From the Crypt and House of Mystery comics I devoured when I was a kid. 160 pages
6.
Black Panther: Long Live The King (2017-2018) #1of625 pages
7.
Black Panther: Long Live The King (2017-2018) #225 pages
8.
Black Panther: Long Live The King (2017-2018) #3 The first two books of the run were very good. This one seems like it's not even part of the arc. I even researched to see if I'd gotten the wrong book by mistake! It completely breaks the flow of the story.24 pages
Mod
The Fifth Season OMG. OMGOMGOMG! I forgot how much I liked Jemison's writing. How on earth could I have forgotten? Yes, she improves her skil..."I haven't read any Jemison yet but I love the covers and I think I have this from Audible! I will have to bump it closer to the top!
Elyse wrote: "I haven't read any Jemison yet but I love the covers and I think I have this from Audible! I will have to bump it closer to the top! " The narrator, Robin Miles, is excellent. But be warned, it's a trilogy and no time elapses between books so, if you like it, have the second one waiting before you finish. I needed to continue so much that I downloaded the second book using my data because I couldn't make myself wait until I was in a wi-fi spot, LOL!
BTW, I took your advice about the Comixology free trial- we'll see how it goes ;)
Mod
9.
Bill Willingham's Pantheon #1 I really liked Willingham's Fable series... this one just felt... flat, phoned in, and it left me with no interest to see if it improved. Definitely a 2 star for me- I don't hate the author for writing it, but I do wish I could get the time I spent on it back ;)26 pages
10.
Alabaster: Wolves This one left me with a bit of a hangover! That sense of a pyrrhic victory was perfectly communicated- sorrow and loss and soul-deep exhaustion. It completely deserves the Bram Stoker award it won.136 pages
11.
How to Tell a Story and Other Essays It turns out that I enjoy Twain's non-fiction even more than his fiction.36 pages
13.
Valen the Outcast Vol. 1: Abomination A nice set up to the world and our hero's quest. I've heard this described as zombie Conan, which is not inaccurate, LOL! An enjoyable bit of brain candy.128 pages
15.
Fall of Cthulhu Omnibus This is one of the better adaptation of Cthulhu mythos that I've read in a long time. I would have preferred that they stick with the same artist all the way through, but the story was tight enough of overcome periodic weakness in art design.500 pages
17.
The Obelisk Gate Sooooo good! I'm a bit torn over starting the third book right away, though. On the one hand, this series is wonderful, the narration is great and I have NO idea how this is all going to end up. On the other hand, once I've read the third book it will all be over and I'm pretty sure I'll be wrecked.13 hrs 15 mins
I'm on the hold list for The Fifth Season right now. So many people love this series.
Charleen wrote: "I'm on the hold list for The Fifth Season right now. So many people love this series."It is very good- I'm about halfway through the last one and I don't want it to end! Also, I just want to throw money at the author so that she can keep writing things I love ;)
Maybe if I start tracking this right away I won't get to the end of the year and go "Hmmm, I wonder just how many pages that was", and decide that it's too much hassle to go back and figure it out at that point. Like I do. Every. Single. Year. January totals:
17 titles
2,305 pages
28 hrs 46 mins
Year to date totals:
17 titles
2,305 pages
28 hrs 46 mins
Note: counts are credited to the month they were finished in, regardless of when they were started.
18.
The Silent Grove The art is good and the story is... serviceable. They got Varric and Isabela spot on, though Alistair wasn't quite right. Mostly this reminds me of how much I love Isabela. It may be time to pop in those games again.80 pages
19.
The Stone Sky I loved this trilogy, and I was right- it has left me with a book hangover. It's a good thing I had such a strong month with January!14 hrs 16 mins
20.
The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story The story itself is fascinating and well written, and I wish I had read it in text instead of listening. Bill Mumy has a nice voice, and his speaking cadence kind of reminds me of Casey Kasem, but his constant mispronunciations of the place names- most appallingly the name of the place the story takes place in- is wince inducing. Knowing that the narrator is a native Californian, and an Angelino, and therefor at least hears Spanish everywhere, even if he doesn't speak it himself, makes the experience even more jarring. If it weren't for the mispronunciations I would have rated the narration as a 4 star, so I would be willing to try something else narrated by Mumy, provided it was written in basic American English, using no loan words or place names.10 hrs 29 mins
22.
Blood Stones The artwork is very nice- gets muddled at the army encampment, but other than that the scenes are clear, the coloring is beautiful, the visuals are interesting. And that's pretty much the end of the positive things about this story. I won't be following up with the other volumes.256 pages
23.
Black Panther: Long Live the King #424 pages
24.
Black Panther: Long Live the King #524 pages
The first issues started off well, but everything fell apart when they switched writers. By issue 5, I hated the art, too.
Ugh. At least I didn't pay for any of these :/
February totals:7 titles
384 pages
30 hrs 23 mins
Year to Date totals:
24 titles
2,689 pages
59 hrs 9 mins
25.
The Devil's Broker: Seeking Gold, God, and Glory in Fourteenth- Century Italy This was very good, but took a long time for me to get through- mostly because I knew absolutely nothing about the subject and so I had to keep stopping to look up maps or pronunciations!396 pages
26.
To the Heart of the Nile: Lady Florence Baker and the Exploration of Central Africa I don't feel right leaving a star review- this writing is easy to follow, the characters and story are engaging, it is meticulously researched (with an impressive bibliography at the end)... but it wasn't what I wanted when I purchased the book. What I wanted was history. Biography. What I got was the equivalent of the novelization of a made-for-TV biopic. We're not talking 'making educated guesses regarding interpretation and motives'. We're talking 'making up entire conversations and interactions.' That song from Book of Mormon was on a continual loop in my head while reading ("You're making things up again, Arnold! You're stretching the truth again, and you know it.")428 pages
27.
Mass Effect: Foundation Volume 196 pages
28.
Mass Effect: Foundation Volume 2120 pages
29.
Mass Effect: Foundation Volume 3116 pages
I keep reading these like Charlie Brown keeps trying to kick that football, with much the same result. They aren't terrible, just wrenchingly mediocre. Except for the art... that's pretty bad most of the time.
30.
Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle Interesting, informative without going too far beyond a non-specialists's understanding of science, and written in an accessible manner. You get the feeling that you'd kinda like to be friends with someone like the author, even though you'd be late to everything because he'd gotten distracted by ALL THE WONDERFUL THINGS! I'd recommend reading the print version, because the narration of the audio was oddly enunciated and almost monotone. I had to speed it up 1.75x to get through it (thank goodness for that function), and if this had been my first Thor Hansen book, I would not have picked out another. (The narrator for The Triumph of Seeds: How Grains, Nuts, Kernels, Pulses, and Pips Conquered the Plant Kingdom and Shaped Human History does a much better job, IMO).8 hrs 20 mins
March totals:8 Titles
1,279 pages
38 hrs 51 mins
Year to Date totals:
32 titles
3,968 pages
98 hrs
33.
Ready Player One Read this one for the Buddy Read (well, listened anyway) and enjoyed it, again :) The narration threw me at first because it's not the way I'd 'heard' it in my own head when I read it the first time. My love of Will Wheaton kept me going until it finally 'clicked' for me. I'll probably still revisit this one in print more than in audio, though. (Unrelated note: I hate when the covers of books are replaced by their movie posters!!!)15 hrs 46 mins
Mod
Ready Player One Read this one for the Buddy Read (well, listened anyway) and enjoyed it, again :) The narration threw me at first because i..."I started with the audio so I prefer that version. Plus the font was too dang small in the paperback! lol. But still love it! I've read it in some form every year since 2016! lol. But don't see the movie!!! It was terribad!
34.
The American West: History, Myth, and Legacy Let me tell you, despite going to school in a western state there's a whole bunch of stuff they don't cover in class!12 hrs 2 mins
35.
Empire of Gold : A History of the Byzantine Empire Another one from my Read What You Own pile. the Professor does a good job making the convoluted Byzantine dynasties followable- no mean feat when you have multiple Emperors at once and everybody (it seems) names their kids the same thing.8 hrs 19 mins
April totals:3 Titles
36 hrs 7 mins
Year to Date totals:
35 titles
3,968 pages
133 hrs 7 mins
Not my best month, though at least all three titles were pretty good. Seriously though... a three book month?!
Mod
3 Titles
36 hrs 7 mins
Year to Date totals:
35 titles
3,968 pages
133 hrs 7 mins
Not my best month, though at least all three titles were pretty good. Seriously though... a three b..."
That's okay, things get in the way! The average person reads 4 books a YEAR, so you're doing well! :) We all have our off months.
36.
Stones, Bones, And Ancient Cities This was an easy read, very much a survey of 'big name' discoveries, some of which I was familiar with and some which were new to me. And then, right as I finished it, one of my coworkers expressed an interest in it and I gave it to her. So, not only did I finish an enjoyable book that had been languishing on my shelves for years- I got it out of my house without feeling like I was abandoning it. Woot!267 pages
37.
The Scourge Vol. 1 Serviceable. Entertaining but not something I need to own or read again.166 pages
38.
Prometheus: The Complete Fire and Stone This was surprisingly good. It managed to keep the feel of the Aliens universe, though it misses out on that claustrophobic tenseness (which I honestly don't think you can quite replicate on a page).508 pages
39.
Final Plague, Volume One Solidly told, this volume is a set up for the Zombie Animal Apocalypse. The characters were consistent and relatively believable. The art, though... whooo-boy! This is just not a style I appreciate. Everything was messy, jumbled, you couldn't tell who was who without the dialog bubbles (and sometimes not even then. It seemed more like rough sketch storyboarding than finished panels. I'm interested in following the story further but, man, I don't like the art.160 pages
75 Books...More or Less!
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