Challenge: 50 Books discussion

And here we go:
I should really start starring these or something... Let's see...
1. Breathless (House of Rohan #3), Anne Stuart. Gotta love a man who tries so hard to be so bad, and the woman who's willing to bash his head in to make a point. 3 gasps, 2 LOL's, 2 sighs & some heavy breathing.

2. I Know I Am, But What Are You?, Samantha Bee.
5 snorts, 2 gafaws & giggles too numerus to count.

3. His at Night, Sherry Thomas.
Working my way through SB Sarah's best of 2010 list -of which I have, surprisingly, already read eight. Really good, not Joanna Bourne good, but right up there. Plus the hero of our story is called Penny by his family. Totally realistic in the time frame of the story, but smile worthy for someone reading it in today's.

Wow, I'm really off last year's pace. Damn quilting projects!

doing better than I did last year! I barely made it and that's because I went into a reading frenzy at the end of the year!

#4(finally!) To Say Nothing of the Dog, Connie Willis. I was really looking forward to this, but I gotta say... About 100 pages too long. I like a nice time travel/English Manor House farce as much as the next girl, but since I figured out who Mr. C was two paragraphs after meeting him, and what had happened to the Bishop's Bird Stump before the first chapter was complete, I just wanted the characters to get on with it already.
Numerous chuckles, one outright guffaw, mild head scratching & 100 pages of head banging.

erin wrote: "doing better than I did last year! I barely made it and that's because I went into a reading frenzy at the end of the year!"

Winter is usually my big curl up under a quilt read-a-thon, but too many distractions right now. Problematical as I have 19 books checked out from the GBPL as we speak.

#5. Silent in the Sanctuary, Deanna Raybourne. Manages to keep you guessing right up to the last little twist. And then there's Mr. Brisbane... Moderate pondering & repondering, seven smiles, an Ahhh, I get it & one atta girl.

#6. Behemoth, Scott Westerfeld illustrations by Keith Thompson. Deryn & Alec continue their adventures in WWI steampunk. Rollicking good fun, although the titular Behemoth shows up for all of five pages.

See what having to staying home for the furnace repairman does for your list.

It's January 25th!! The happy dance commences! Borders gift card? Check. Borders bonus points? Check. Borders 33% off coupon? Check. Passing Borders between offices? Tomorrow, check.

Love your reviews, and love the fact that you read Samantha Bee's book. It's on my to-be-reads and now I'm even more eager to get to it.

Gorsh! Thanks. (kicks dirt)

Ohh, I got Behemoth for Christmas - super excited about it. I love steampunk.

Really enjoyed it, just make sure you know what perspicacious means.

kind of an oxymoron...be sure to know the word that means to intuitively know.

;) It's one of my favorite words. I would use it to describe especially bright new employees, which drove my boss nuts. Gave me a tickle everytime I read it.

Looking forward to reading this one. I finished Doomsday Book earlier this month and liked it, my first Connie Willis book. A bit worried now about the length.

Donna wrote: "#4(finally!) To Say Nothing of the Dog, Connie Willis. I was really looking forward to this, but I gotta say... About 100 pages too long. I like a nice time travel/English Manor House farce as much..."

It's not that long a book - about 500 pages. It just felt long because I wanted them to get on with it - and that falls on the farce aspect of the book. I would never dissuade someone from reading it because all in all it was an enjoyable read - down right funny in parts. Perhaps I just wasn't in the right mindset for it.

#7. A Secret Gift, Ted Gup. Heard an interview w/the author on NPR and found myself intrigued. Gup receives a box of his grandfather's possessions and launches a quest to find out the story behind a bundle of letters he discovers & the lost truths of his grandfather's history. As someone who keeps finding out things she never knew about her family, I totally empathize. And look at that, two non-fictions and we're not even out of January yet!

#8. Love is a Four-legged Word, Kandy Shepard. Nice little palate cleanser. Many smiles, a couple awws, & a seriously, she's mad at him for getting paid for doing his JOB!?

#9. Moonstruck Madness, Laurie McBain. A reread of an old skool romance favorite from back in the day. I unearthed it after a dialogue on SBTB ,and while the perspective of years takes a little gilt off the rose, it's still a masterpiece of a bodice ripper.

Gotta love snow storms.

#10. Loose Ends (Steele Street 11), Tara Janzen. I'm always a little nervous when a writer decides to bring a character back from the dead. I should have had more faith. A bit of a continuity issue, but once the flash bags are going off & the muscle cars are screaming through the streets, the WTF wonder of it all takes over & like Jane you just pray the seat belt is up to the job. Oh, um lots of heartponding action (with & without clothes), 2 gasps, 4 sighs, two shoulder thups/"urm...How about those Cubs?", and an ewww...

#11. Prelude to a Scandal, Delilah Marvelle. Now isn't that just a too cute name for a romance author? Anyway. Nice little read to snuggle up with while the 50 mph wind gust made a six foot snow drift up against my garage door.

#12. Chance the Winds of Fortune, Laurie McBain. Yes, still in the old skool mood. And seemed appropriate with the afore mentioned winds outside. McBain was noteable in her day for, and what I liked her best for, writing romance without the "forced seduction". In an age of romantic heros with the "your mouth says no (and you're kicking me), but your eyes say yes" level of enlightenment and heroines of the kick me-beat me-make me write bad checks mentality, she wrote men who understood no means no, and women who had a sense of their own worth & said yes when they meant it. And didn't leave out the abduction, seduction, swordfighting, treasure hunting, evil twins before the HEA WTFery hallmarks of the genre.

#13. In Too Deep, Jayne Ann Krentz. Just what you'd expect. Unfortunately it's the start of another crossover trilogy where one book is written under her contemporary persona then her historical then her "sci-fi". If you're going to do that, shouldn't the historical come first? And sure it sells books, but what about the reader who doesn't care for either of the other two genre? Plus she's left Lake and Marsh out there consorting in sin for a long time now, and I wish she'd get back to them. Time to drop this and seperate her personas.

#14. Dark Before the Rising Sun, Laurie McBain. Okay I am fulfilled. I can get back to the library pile I've had to renew a couple of times while I indulged in my trip down memory lane.

#15. An Object of Beauty, Steve Martin. Wonderful. Both art primer & character study. Martin is a keen observer & engaging story teller.

I've been debating reading Steve Martin. Have you read his others? And how do they compare to this one?

Donna wrote: "#15. An Object of Beauty, Steve Martin. Wonderful. Both art primer & character study. Martin is a keen observer & engaging story teller."

No, this was the first. I've always thought Steve Martin was brilliant & that he'd be so interesting to chat with over a glass of wine. Now, well, I don't know that I'd be able to keep up. His stand up persona might make you think his writing would be a bit crazed and farsical, but it is far from that. It's crisp, tight and absent of hyperbole. He makes Lacey, a pretty unlikeable character, interesting. David, the narrator, is unsentimental (for reasons that become obvious) and on the timid side. Plus you get a nice little education in the modern/contemporary art world from a connoisseur's perspective.

Sounds intriguing! I think what's stopped me from buying his books is that I was afraid it was going to be slapstick. But, from your description, the writing sounds very sophisticated. I think I'll look into borrowing it from the library. Thanks!

Hope you enjoy it.

#16. The War Against Miss Winter, Kathryn Miller Haines. Thanks Sheila G. for your review. It made this sound entertaining, and it was. I do recommend a viewing of "Stage Door" starring Katharine Hepburn for visuals. 3 palookas, 2 joes, several dames & one headcase.

#17. Real Murders, Charlaine Harris. Having read her most recent series, thought I'd check out where she started. Nice little mystery, doesn't have the depth of say Harper Connelly books, but a quick enjoyable little Saturday afternoon read. 2 love interests, a couple ewws & and an oh, I should've guessed that.

Donna wrote: "#16. The War Against Miss Winter, Kathryn Miller Haines. Thanks Sheila G. for your review. It made this sound entertaining, and it was. I do recommend a viewing of "Stage Door" starring Katharine H..."
If you enjoyed The War Against Miss Winter then I think you would also enjoy Kathryn Miller Haines other books in the Miss Winter series--The Winter of her Discontent, Winter in June, and When Winter Returns.

They're on my list.

#18. Archangel's Consort, Nalini Singh. Love this series! I'm always surprised by how much because I've read a couple of her Psy/Changling books & felt no connection whatsoever. So, 3 gasps, 2 LOLs, 4 tell me more - please! and one long sigh of contentment.

Glad you enjoyed Archangel's Consort. I had the same problem with the Psy-Changeling for the first 2 books. Have you read Caressed By Ice? - I loved that one, it took a different angle from the first 2

I read them years & years ago. The fact that I am so enjoying the Guild Hunter books made me put the first Psy/Changeling(which I don't think was one of the ones I read)on my reserve list at the library. Perhaps second time -& starting at the beginning- will be the charm.
Good news is that my understanding was that she was contracted for four Guild Hunter books, but it looks like there's actually going to be a fifth.

I really want ones on Illium and Aeodhan. It seems to be selling well which should mean lots more books!
The Psy-Changeling is quite a complicated world which builds nicely and things get more interesting afer the first two couples

I want Aodhan & Jason... And I don't think we'll see them until after this first cycle. I'm pretty sure all five books will be about Elena & Raphael & that may be part of the reason I'm liking them better. You get to enjoy the relationship as it grows & changes through time instead of moving from couple to couple. I'm looking forward to him dealing with his mommy issues.

wow Donna - you are really flyin' throught the books. better watch it or you'll have to move to the 100 books a year challenge - you are going to hit 50 before you know it!! ;)

Hey Sooz! How you been? I'm about to hit a slow spot. My yearly quilt retreat is the first weekend in April. Between figuring out/prepping what I'm going to be working on and getting together the last minute stuff for everyone else (scored bud vases at the dollar store yesterday!)as I'm on the planning committee, the reading is way down. Oh, and the Torchwood marathon I indulged in didn't help. I'm down to that hour or so I have if I wake up before the alarm goes off. "A Discovery of Witches" is going to take me FOREVER.

#19 The Tokaido Road, Lucia St. Clair Robson. In one of those strange coincidences of timing, I started this on March 10th just hours before the earthquake. Downright weird when that happens.

Anyhow. Fabulously written story a girl's quest to avenge her father set in fuedal Japan. Robson really did her research, everything from the poetry to the food to the mud & dust of the road evokes the time period. And it's beautifully written -there's a description of a roadside comfort station that is downright poetic. Kat starts her journey (fueled by a death by fugu) a proud, headstrong and basically real world clueless girl & grows into a woman of character as well as conviction. Then there's the ronin Hanshiro hired to track her down & thinking how hard can it be to round up one foolish woman? Plus, ninja fights!! Rollicking good read!

I had a heck of a time finding your thread, I was looking under D instead of P :-)

I wanted to see how your quilt retreat went but now I see it's not until April. How much does it cost? Our guild has a weekend retreat that is $250, seems high.

Sorry... there were too many Donnas last year so I filed myself under the first letter of my last name. Some day I'll get my baby bro to make an avatar for me which would make things easier.
Any how, depending on what it covers $250 is about average. We pay slightly more for 3 nights & 5 1/2 meals. Plus we pad our fee $10 per person for the little extras. This year we made fabric roses that will go in bud vases at everyone's sewing tables, two make-and-takes & treat bags for the drive home. The last few years we've been going to Homestead Cabin Retreats in Hillpoint, WI about three hours away. (www.homesteadcabinretreat.com) WONDERFUL! Patsy read the Jennifer Chiaverini books & ran with it.
We did find a place in Danville, IL -Threads of Time- which charges $35 a night, no meals. (www.threadsandbedsretreat.com) They rehabbed an old nursing home into a quilt/yarn/gift shop with a retreat facility. So we booked in there for this fall since people in my guild seem to want variety & less expense. Of course, they hear $35/night & don't take into account how much expense & work it is to provide meals & then clean up after them.

Ha! I thought you had put your thread under P for "Piece of Pie" :-)

Thanks for the info on the retreat, and get talking to your bro so I can see you and your quilts!!

Have a great day!

Connie wrote: "Ha! I thought you had put your thread under P for "Piece of Pie" :-)

There's that too. Mmmmmm... pie....

#20. A Discovery of Witches, Deborah Harkness. Groundbreaking genre buster? Nah. Well researched, well written, entertaining read? Oh, yes. Science, magic, alchemy, mythology, poetry, wine, Oxford and upstate New York in the autumn are the backdrop for the story of Diana Bishop last in the line of family of powerful witches & Matthew Clairmont a fifteen hundred year old vampire with an enviable curriculum vitea and a past teeming with notable personalities. Could it have been shorter? Sure. What would I have left out? Well... nothing.

#21. Slave to Sensation (Psy-Changeling #1), Nalini Singh. I'd been unimpressed with previous forays in to this series, but I so enjoy her Guild Hunter books, I thought I'd give it a try from the beginning.
Not as solid as the Guild Hunter books, but still pretty entertaining, and I guess I've got another PNR series to keep up with. Arghhhh!!!!!

#22. The Windup Girl, Paolo Bacigalupi. Avarice indulged, trust betrayed, loyalties transient, idealism trampled and reborn in a future where the seas have risen, oil has disappeared & hybridization & bio plagues have ravaged the planet.
In other words: Human nature never changes.

#23. Dreams of a Dark Warrior (IAD #11), Kresley Cole. Hands down one of the best PNR series going.

Wow, am I off the pace!!

#24. Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake, Sarah MacLean - needs to come up with shorter titles, seriously!!
Another new author insuring that I never break my renewed addiction to historical romance. Callie is wonderful, the girl everyone likes, but no one loves. The if only girl... you know - she'd be attractive, if only.... pretty, if only... marriageable if only... When she makes her list, which isn't actually about romancing anyone, you have to cheer her on. The list is more about a woman who's always done what's expected or acceptable trying to feel some sense of control over a life her place in society has boxed her into. When Gabriel hands her his gun & tells her he wants the list done with you have to just smile. Next book in the series is waiting at the GBPL drive through & I am off....

#25. Any Man of Mine, Rachel Gibson. It's spring & a middle aged woman's fancy turns to hockey romances. So, the Hawks aren't in the cup play offs this year (oh, Antti Neimi how I miss you!), but still fun that these come out right on time.

#26. Lover Unleashed (BDB#9), J.R. Ward. So, I'm trying to decide if I'm still reading these because I want to see where it's going or if there's some sort of sublimnal crack written into them.

#27. Dead Reckoning, Charlaine Harris.
Well, definitely an improvement over the last one. At least the villian makes sense this time. Anyway, this time around it's assasination and baby showers for Sookie. I'm also beginning to think that she doesn't deserve any of the men in her life.

Lol! I had to stop myself from buying her books. Too much for me but I still wonder about them. ;)

Donna wrote: "#26. Lover Unleashed (BDB#9), J.R. Ward. So, I'm trying to decide if I'm still reading these because I want to see where it's going or if there's some sort of sublimnal crack written into them."

Same unwieldy hook up, lots of homo-erotic angst, schizophrenic continuity, and now, because she's messed up her original plan, a new villian. Which isn't necessarily bad as it may lead to more Wrath - who's about the only character that's improving over time.
And I don't buy them, I rent them from the GBPL. My one control over the addiction.
Still... I. Just. Can't. Stop!!!!

Embrace your addiction! As a wise person (you) once told me, "There are worse things.."!

;D