1. Busted Flush Edited by George R. R. Martin
2. The Myth of You and Me by Leah Stewart
3. Julia's Chocolates by Cathy Lamb
4. Valentine's Resolve by E. E. Knight
5. Eli Manning: The Making of a Quarterback by Ralph Vacchiano
6. Star Wars: Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor by Mathew
7. Michelle: A Biography by Liza Mundy
8. The Sweet In-Between by Sheri Reynolds
9. Audition by Barbara Walters
10. Harry, A History by Melissa Anelli
Melissa Anelli is the webmistress of the Leaky Cauldron and was one of the two folks who did that kick-arse interview with JKR right after HPB came out. This book is basically her love letter to HP fandom. It recounts the HP phenomenom and peppers the book with little tidbits of never heard before info from JKR. If you're a Harry Potter fan I'd definitely recommend it. It's also kind of cool to see user names that you've seen around fandom for a long time and one of your favorite fan fics actually mentioned in a published book.
11. Guilty Pleasures, the comic, Volume II
Anita is pretty. Jean Claude is prettier (barely). It's (mostly) true to the book, and it definitely reminded me why I originally fell in love with Hamilton's writing. I wish she would bring some of that actual emotion back to the series. It seems like Anita has just become this cold and unfeeling robot, and I miss the Anita from this book.
12. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Book 1 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. It's a kids book, but I love the whole mythology aspect and it's not too cheesy or young as to make me roll my eyes and not want to read it. Just the opposite, in fact. I'm hitting the whole series. :)
13. Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
14. The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan
15. Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
16. Word of Honor by Radclyffe
Cam and Blair get hitched. Finally.
17. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
It's ironic I read </a></b></a>![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
somniesperus's AU DWP fic that was set in this 'verse before I actually read this novel. It made a lot of things in the fic make a lot more sense, but I'm also glad I read it just for the story. It was a pretty horrifying story to me. Being trapped and constrained to that level.... *shudders* And the scariest part was the eerily prescient nature of the book in the way that it foretold that people would stand by and do nothing while their rights were taken away one by one because it wasn't them...yet, so no one was willing to do anything about it. And maybe that's not what the book is about, but I chose to believe that the woman in the book (I refuse to call her Offred, and wow, did it take me a long time to catch on that it was a derivative. Duh!) got her well, not happily ever after. But that she survived, and got whatever measure of freedom that she could find for herself.
18. Runner by Thomas Perry
Jane Whitefield is Jane McKinnon now. Wife of a respected surgeon, definitely not a woman who guides people from places where someone is trying to kill them to places where no one is. Except a young pregnant woman stumbles into her husband's hospital in the aftermath of an explosion begging for her help. Jane can't turn her down no matter the promise she made to Carey. Awesome suspense novel. I like the religous/mythical aspect of it too. I wasn't expecting it so it was kind of a bonus. And continuing my trend of reading the last book in a series first....
19. The Face Changers by Thomas Perry
Jane Whitefield promised her husband Carey that she wouldn't help anymore people dissapear after they got married. Now he's asking her to do it again for his mentor. Jane can't say no, but will it destroy them both. And continuing my life long trend of reading the second to last book in a series directly after reading the last book in a series....
20. First Person and other short stories by Ali Smith
I cannot reccomend this book enough. Seriously. On the whole I usually find short stories pretentious, completely indicipherable and highly depressing. This was exactly the opposite. I had a grin on my face the whole time I read this book. It was fun, even the sad parts weren't unbearable, but they were moving. I felt like talking to an old friend I hadn't seen in years. Loved it!
22. The Hidden Temple (Star Wars, Legacy Volume 5) Graphic Novel
So I've been kind of meh, about the whole Legacy idea. The things that I'd heard about it never made me want to check it out and since it's nearly impossible for me to lay my hands on comics, I didn't bother, but I saw this at the library the other day so I had to try it. It really rocked. I liked Cade and I really liked Deliah Blue. Awwww! And although I don't know Princess Masariah, I find her very intriguing. (Probably because she's supposed to be Jaina's great-grandwhatever, right? )
23. Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher
I laughed so hard. My mom was in and out of the room while I was reading it and she just kept staring at me I was laughing so much. It dealt with serious stuff, but it was still hilarious.
24. Cast in Fury by Michelle Sagara
A cool fantasy novel focused on Kaylin Neya a young woman with a lot of power, an interesting past and a dislike for pretentious authority that gets her in trouble from time to time. There are lords, dragons, mages, and people that are also lions. Complete with their own individual cultures. Not rocket science to read, but highly enjoyable.
25. Hulk vs. Marvel Universe
An assortment of comics from over at least the past forty years where the Hulk fights characters like the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, Spider-man, Daredevil, etc. Smash, smash, boom, boom! I like modern illustrations better.
26. White Witch, Black Curse by Kim Harrison
I...have mixed feelings. There are parts I love and parts I really don't love.
27. The Shadow Queen by Anne Bishop
It took me a while to get into this book, because I was leery about the new characters, but I really got into once I started reading and it still had all of the things that I loved about the Black Jewels trilogy.
28. Sense of Evil by Kay Hooper
FBI Special Agent Isabelle Adams is clairvoyant. Then she gets involved in a case with a serial killer who's targets all look very much like her. And she meets the only man who can tamp down her powers, giving her overstressed brain a much needed break at exactly the wrong time. I...liked it. There were some issues of the story that I didn't like because I thought they were glossed over and unrealistic, but I mean, it's fiction. What did I expect? Though I did like that they didn't slam me over the head with the identity of the murderer throughout the book, and I was actually surprised at the end. The certain cliche'd thing that happened with it though really bothered me.
29. Promises in Death by J. D. Robb
I don't quite understand how I can like the J.D. Robb novels so much, and loathe Nora Roberts novels as much as I do. I guess it's mainly a testament to Roberts skills as a writer. I really liked this next installment in the Eve Dallas series. It's fun seeing the cast of characters that have wandered into the novels all together, and some of the ruts that she was beginning to get into that were starting to annoy me, weren't fallen back into. I was a majorly happy camper. Loved it.
30. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
I liked it. It wasn't quite what I was expecting, but it was enjoyable. And I liked that it didn't give the obvious immediate satisfaction and tidy wrapping up that it had been promising from the beginning for the angstiest part of the book.
31. Stuck by Elizabeth Rose
City girl gets stuck with country boy in elevator. Sparks fly (figuratively). They totally have a thing for each other but are complete opposites pretty much in personalities, lifestyles and what they want from life. They get all angsty about it and decided it won't work out about a billion times because they're going in opposite directions, but in the end she ends up agreeing to marry him. It was...slightly romantic? I'm still waiting for the sequel where they get divorced because them staying together was completely unrealistic - even by fictional standards.
32. WWW: Wake by Robert J. Sawyer
This novel about a blind girl who has this machine installed behind her eye to properly interpret the signals her brain is receiving from the outside world but ends up seeing the world wide web instead and learns that it's alive and a real entity in itself. I like that it included and mentioned fandom. It kind of always geeks me out when books like this sorta reference themselves in that way, but I guess I was a little bit annoyed with the subplots. Not that they weren't cool or enjoyable to read about, I guess I just missed the point of them, maybe? I didn't get what they added to the story and while they did get brought into the main plot threads I didn't think it was anything that really added to the story or gave another level of understanding or relevance. I don't know. It just kind of left me wondering if I'd missed something?
33. The Stepmother by Carrie Adams.
Know why I like femslash? Besides the hotness. I like that there's a fiction space where women can interact with one another and be the rational, adult human beings that they are without their whole lives and worlds revolving around men. I like that women can be friends and discuss things like politics and religion and life and not just discuss who flirted with them that week. I like stories about women who are friends with women. This book...it wasn't perfect. But it showed the story of a mother dealing with falling back in love with her ex-husband just as he's finally getting over her and moving on to another woman. It's about how these two women and three daughters are real women. They have issues, all of them, and problems, but that doesn't mean that they're having to constantly be having major cat fights and acting like complete bitches the whole time. It's not pretty and it is definitely awkward, but it didn't make me want to tear my hair out in frustration. I definitely enjoyed it.
2. The Myth of You and Me by Leah Stewart
3. Julia's Chocolates by Cathy Lamb
4. Valentine's Resolve by E. E. Knight
5. Eli Manning: The Making of a Quarterback by Ralph Vacchiano
6. Star Wars: Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor by Mathew
7. Michelle: A Biography by Liza Mundy
8. The Sweet In-Between by Sheri Reynolds
9. Audition by Barbara Walters
10. Harry, A History by Melissa Anelli
Melissa Anelli is the webmistress of the Leaky Cauldron and was one of the two folks who did that kick-arse interview with JKR right after HPB came out. This book is basically her love letter to HP fandom. It recounts the HP phenomenom and peppers the book with little tidbits of never heard before info from JKR. If you're a Harry Potter fan I'd definitely recommend it. It's also kind of cool to see user names that you've seen around fandom for a long time and one of your favorite fan fics actually mentioned in a published book.
11. Guilty Pleasures, the comic, Volume II
Anita is pretty. Jean Claude is prettier (barely). It's (mostly) true to the book, and it definitely reminded me why I originally fell in love with Hamilton's writing. I wish she would bring some of that actual emotion back to the series. It seems like Anita has just become this cold and unfeeling robot, and I miss the Anita from this book.
12. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Book 1 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. It's a kids book, but I love the whole mythology aspect and it's not too cheesy or young as to make me roll my eyes and not want to read it. Just the opposite, in fact. I'm hitting the whole series. :)
13. Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
14. The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan
15. Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
16. Word of Honor by Radclyffe
Cam and Blair get hitched. Finally.
17. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
It's ironic I read </a></b></a>
somniesperus's AU DWP fic that was set in this 'verse before I actually read this novel. It made a lot of things in the fic make a lot more sense, but I'm also glad I read it just for the story. It was a pretty horrifying story to me. Being trapped and constrained to that level.... *shudders* And the scariest part was the eerily prescient nature of the book in the way that it foretold that people would stand by and do nothing while their rights were taken away one by one because it wasn't them...yet, so no one was willing to do anything about it. And maybe that's not what the book is about, but I chose to believe that the woman in the book (I refuse to call her Offred, and wow, did it take me a long time to catch on that it was a derivative. Duh!) got her well, not happily ever after. But that she survived, and got whatever measure of freedom that she could find for herself.18. Runner by Thomas Perry
Jane Whitefield is Jane McKinnon now. Wife of a respected surgeon, definitely not a woman who guides people from places where someone is trying to kill them to places where no one is. Except a young pregnant woman stumbles into her husband's hospital in the aftermath of an explosion begging for her help. Jane can't turn her down no matter the promise she made to Carey. Awesome suspense novel. I like the religous/mythical aspect of it too. I wasn't expecting it so it was kind of a bonus. And continuing my trend of reading the last book in a series first....
19. The Face Changers by Thomas Perry
Jane Whitefield promised her husband Carey that she wouldn't help anymore people dissapear after they got married. Now he's asking her to do it again for his mentor. Jane can't say no, but will it destroy them both. And continuing my life long trend of reading the second to last book in a series directly after reading the last book in a series....
20. First Person and other short stories by Ali Smith
I cannot reccomend this book enough. Seriously. On the whole I usually find short stories pretentious, completely indicipherable and highly depressing. This was exactly the opposite. I had a grin on my face the whole time I read this book. It was fun, even the sad parts weren't unbearable, but they were moving. I felt like talking to an old friend I hadn't seen in years. Loved it!
22. The Hidden Temple (Star Wars, Legacy Volume 5) Graphic Novel
So I've been kind of meh, about the whole Legacy idea. The things that I'd heard about it never made me want to check it out and since it's nearly impossible for me to lay my hands on comics, I didn't bother, but I saw this at the library the other day so I had to try it. It really rocked. I liked Cade and I really liked Deliah Blue. Awwww! And although I don't know Princess Masariah, I find her very intriguing. (Probably because she's supposed to be Jaina's great-grandwhatever, right? )
23. Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher
I laughed so hard. My mom was in and out of the room while I was reading it and she just kept staring at me I was laughing so much. It dealt with serious stuff, but it was still hilarious.
24. Cast in Fury by Michelle Sagara
A cool fantasy novel focused on Kaylin Neya a young woman with a lot of power, an interesting past and a dislike for pretentious authority that gets her in trouble from time to time. There are lords, dragons, mages, and people that are also lions. Complete with their own individual cultures. Not rocket science to read, but highly enjoyable.
25. Hulk vs. Marvel Universe
An assortment of comics from over at least the past forty years where the Hulk fights characters like the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, Spider-man, Daredevil, etc. Smash, smash, boom, boom! I like modern illustrations better.
26. White Witch, Black Curse by Kim Harrison
I...have mixed feelings. There are parts I love and parts I really don't love.
27. The Shadow Queen by Anne Bishop
It took me a while to get into this book, because I was leery about the new characters, but I really got into once I started reading and it still had all of the things that I loved about the Black Jewels trilogy.
28. Sense of Evil by Kay Hooper
FBI Special Agent Isabelle Adams is clairvoyant. Then she gets involved in a case with a serial killer who's targets all look very much like her. And she meets the only man who can tamp down her powers, giving her overstressed brain a much needed break at exactly the wrong time. I...liked it. There were some issues of the story that I didn't like because I thought they were glossed over and unrealistic, but I mean, it's fiction. What did I expect? Though I did like that they didn't slam me over the head with the identity of the murderer throughout the book, and I was actually surprised at the end. The certain cliche'd thing that happened with it though really bothered me.
29. Promises in Death by J. D. Robb
I don't quite understand how I can like the J.D. Robb novels so much, and loathe Nora Roberts novels as much as I do. I guess it's mainly a testament to Roberts skills as a writer. I really liked this next installment in the Eve Dallas series. It's fun seeing the cast of characters that have wandered into the novels all together, and some of the ruts that she was beginning to get into that were starting to annoy me, weren't fallen back into. I was a majorly happy camper. Loved it.
30. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
I liked it. It wasn't quite what I was expecting, but it was enjoyable. And I liked that it didn't give the obvious immediate satisfaction and tidy wrapping up that it had been promising from the beginning for the angstiest part of the book.
31. Stuck by Elizabeth Rose
City girl gets stuck with country boy in elevator. Sparks fly (figuratively). They totally have a thing for each other but are complete opposites pretty much in personalities, lifestyles and what they want from life. They get all angsty about it and decided it won't work out about a billion times because they're going in opposite directions, but in the end she ends up agreeing to marry him. It was...slightly romantic? I'm still waiting for the sequel where they get divorced because them staying together was completely unrealistic - even by fictional standards.
32. WWW: Wake by Robert J. Sawyer
This novel about a blind girl who has this machine installed behind her eye to properly interpret the signals her brain is receiving from the outside world but ends up seeing the world wide web instead and learns that it's alive and a real entity in itself. I like that it included and mentioned fandom. It kind of always geeks me out when books like this sorta reference themselves in that way, but I guess I was a little bit annoyed with the subplots. Not that they weren't cool or enjoyable to read about, I guess I just missed the point of them, maybe? I didn't get what they added to the story and while they did get brought into the main plot threads I didn't think it was anything that really added to the story or gave another level of understanding or relevance. I don't know. It just kind of left me wondering if I'd missed something?
33. The Stepmother by Carrie Adams.
Know why I like femslash? Besides the hotness. I like that there's a fiction space where women can interact with one another and be the rational, adult human beings that they are without their whole lives and worlds revolving around men. I like that women can be friends and discuss things like politics and religion and life and not just discuss who flirted with them that week. I like stories about women who are friends with women. This book...it wasn't perfect. But it showed the story of a mother dealing with falling back in love with her ex-husband just as he's finally getting over her and moving on to another woman. It's about how these two women and three daughters are real women. They have issues, all of them, and problems, but that doesn't mean that they're having to constantly be having major cat fights and acting like complete bitches the whole time. It's not pretty and it is definitely awkward, but it didn't make me want to tear my hair out in frustration. I definitely enjoyed it.