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Jun. 25th, 2009 06:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
valarltdBooks
* indicates a part of the m/m romance challenge
1) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Reread. Audio
2) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Reread.
3) Jubal Sackett by Louis L'amour. Audio. Not bad but getting very farfetched. Starting in Carolina, marrying a Natchez Princess and fighting a mammoth in the foothills of the Sangre de Christo? Uh, I was with him until the Mammoth. Also, not interested in more books where all the malke characters have names but only one female character does. "The Punka Woman" and "Keokata's woman" were fine once, but these women were there ALL the time. They needed names.
4) The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. Stephan King. TSTL. The first thing you do when lost is STAY PUT. Beyond that amazingly good, very creepy. Very much old-style King,
5) The Tao of Willie. Willie Nelson with Turk Pipkin. Entertaining and wise, I found myself taking it in small doses to better digest. If nothing else you'll come away with a few new jokes.
6) Captain Blood. Rafael Sabatinni. Turn of the century swashbuckler. Very fun. The remake MIGHT be good if they stick close to the book.
7) The Rosewood Casket by Sharyn McCrumb. When old Mr. Stargill dies, his four boys have to build him a casket. But when the local wisewoman shows up with a box of bones, and the next farm over's foreclosure turns into an armed standoff, they have to put their differences aside. Amazingly good. (audio)
8) She Walks These Hills by Sharyn McCrumb. A journey of three mothers and a grad student in the mountains. Historical mystery combines with elderly runaway convict. Very good, but Norah Bonesteel feels like the plot-device to wrap everything up. (audio)
9) The Gospel According to Judas by Benjamin Iscariot. by Jeffrey Archer. Bible fanfiction, retelling the Gospel accounts of Jesus' life through the eyes of Judas, who in this version is not a betrayer, but simply trusted the wrong man to help protect his beloved teacher. It was interesting. (audio)
10) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling. Less annoying than I remember but badly in need of edits. The book gets rolling about half-way through. The saga of the last battle between Harry Potter and Voldemort. (audio)
11) Lando by Louis L'amour. Orlando Sackett moves west with a tinker, looking for his fortune. Gold hunting, finding his long lost father, spending years in a Mexican prison and other adventures try his mettle.
12) The Sackett Brand by Louis L'Amour. My first thought reading a western should not be "Thompson is in trouble, Charlie Brown!" All the farflung Sacketts get called in to rescue William Tell Sackett, whose wife is murdered in the first 2 pages. meh... (audio)
13) The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter by Sharyn McCrumb. Sheriff Spencer Arrowwood is called in for the murders of a whole family. I liked this one, but I expected rather more shocking revelations. I have Angela Carter damage. (audio)
14) The Ballad of Frankie Silver by Sharyn McCrumb. Spencer Arrowwood rushes to save the life of the man he sent the chair twenty years ago...before history can repeat itself. Interesting use of two narrators and two readers. Gripping story. (audio)
15) All New Square-Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. Very useful
16) The Green Man Tree Oracle. John Matthews and Will Worthington. Came with the card deck. I read the book first. My first bit of pagan extracurricular reading.
17) Practical Magic. Alice Hoffman. Amazingly good book, but written in present tense which drives me out of my tree! The message was not served by the medium. Worse, it shifted from past tense to present half way through. While I understand the reasoning behind the stylistic change, it still sucked. (audio)
18) By the Light of the Moon. Dean Koontz. Every year I try out another Koontz and every year I remember I just don't like his work much. A mad scientist injects an artist, his autistic brother and a comedian with nanobots and they go on the run. Yep, that's all there is to it. The characters work well, but something about Koontz'z style doesn't work for me. (audio)
19) Artemus Fowl. Eoin Colfer. Twelve year old criminal genius takes on the Fae. Entertaining. (audio)
*20) Men in Uniform 2. M. Rode, editor. M/M anthology of men in everything from Space Marine to Star Trek to firefighter uniforms. Uneven, but very good. This is part of the M/M Romance challenge
21) Raintree: Inferno. Linda Howard. First in the series. I lucased this series, that is, I started in the middle and worked toward both ends. The other two were better. I had trouble getting past Dante (our hero) mind-raping his destined bride. (There are two concepts in that sentence I have trouble with) It was a good premise, just...poorly executed and the end felt rushed, even for the first book of a series.
22) The Two Lives of Errol Flynn. Michael Freedland. This is a biogrpahy by a man who reads biographies. I've already encountered 90% of this information--in a more entertaining voice--in My Wicked Wicked Ways. Not hard going, just very little new material.
23) Convent of the Pure by Sara M. Harvey. Portia and the ghost of her lover Imogen go to a decaying convent to investigate their leader's death. But dark magic and trouble, angelic children and succubi complicate the search. Steampunk lesbian deamon-fighters. Very good and recommended.
*24) Deviations: Submission. Jodi Payne & Chris Owen. Tobias is an ubertop celebrating his 41's birthday. When he's set up with a damaged sub, they get on a like a house afire. VERY hot.
*25) "Master of None: The Eight of Pentacles". Lee Benoit. Fantasy of a young man living among a troupe of entertainers and searching for his lost lover. Really excellent. Brilliant worldbuilding and good characters.
*26) Strongman. Denise Rossetti. Lovely fantasy about a mercenary joining up with a traveling fair and falling for an acrobat. Amazing world-building, great characters, gripping plot. Must read more of this series.
* indicates a part of the m/m romance challenge
1) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Reread. Audio
2) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Reread.
3) Jubal Sackett by Louis L'amour. Audio. Not bad but getting very farfetched. Starting in Carolina, marrying a Natchez Princess and fighting a mammoth in the foothills of the Sangre de Christo? Uh, I was with him until the Mammoth. Also, not interested in more books where all the malke characters have names but only one female character does. "The Punka Woman" and "Keokata's woman" were fine once, but these women were there ALL the time. They needed names.
4) The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. Stephan King. TSTL. The first thing you do when lost is STAY PUT. Beyond that amazingly good, very creepy. Very much old-style King,
5) The Tao of Willie. Willie Nelson with Turk Pipkin. Entertaining and wise, I found myself taking it in small doses to better digest. If nothing else you'll come away with a few new jokes.
6) Captain Blood. Rafael Sabatinni. Turn of the century swashbuckler. Very fun. The remake MIGHT be good if they stick close to the book.
7) The Rosewood Casket by Sharyn McCrumb. When old Mr. Stargill dies, his four boys have to build him a casket. But when the local wisewoman shows up with a box of bones, and the next farm over's foreclosure turns into an armed standoff, they have to put their differences aside. Amazingly good. (audio)
8) She Walks These Hills by Sharyn McCrumb. A journey of three mothers and a grad student in the mountains. Historical mystery combines with elderly runaway convict. Very good, but Norah Bonesteel feels like the plot-device to wrap everything up. (audio)
9) The Gospel According to Judas by Benjamin Iscariot. by Jeffrey Archer. Bible fanfiction, retelling the Gospel accounts of Jesus' life through the eyes of Judas, who in this version is not a betrayer, but simply trusted the wrong man to help protect his beloved teacher. It was interesting. (audio)
10) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling. Less annoying than I remember but badly in need of edits. The book gets rolling about half-way through. The saga of the last battle between Harry Potter and Voldemort. (audio)
11) Lando by Louis L'amour. Orlando Sackett moves west with a tinker, looking for his fortune. Gold hunting, finding his long lost father, spending years in a Mexican prison and other adventures try his mettle.
12) The Sackett Brand by Louis L'Amour. My first thought reading a western should not be "Thompson is in trouble, Charlie Brown!" All the farflung Sacketts get called in to rescue William Tell Sackett, whose wife is murdered in the first 2 pages. meh... (audio)
13) The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter by Sharyn McCrumb. Sheriff Spencer Arrowwood is called in for the murders of a whole family. I liked this one, but I expected rather more shocking revelations. I have Angela Carter damage. (audio)
14) The Ballad of Frankie Silver by Sharyn McCrumb. Spencer Arrowwood rushes to save the life of the man he sent the chair twenty years ago...before history can repeat itself. Interesting use of two narrators and two readers. Gripping story. (audio)
15) All New Square-Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. Very useful
16) The Green Man Tree Oracle. John Matthews and Will Worthington. Came with the card deck. I read the book first. My first bit of pagan extracurricular reading.
17) Practical Magic. Alice Hoffman. Amazingly good book, but written in present tense which drives me out of my tree! The message was not served by the medium. Worse, it shifted from past tense to present half way through. While I understand the reasoning behind the stylistic change, it still sucked. (audio)
18) By the Light of the Moon. Dean Koontz. Every year I try out another Koontz and every year I remember I just don't like his work much. A mad scientist injects an artist, his autistic brother and a comedian with nanobots and they go on the run. Yep, that's all there is to it. The characters work well, but something about Koontz'z style doesn't work for me. (audio)
19) Artemus Fowl. Eoin Colfer. Twelve year old criminal genius takes on the Fae. Entertaining. (audio)
*20) Men in Uniform 2. M. Rode, editor. M/M anthology of men in everything from Space Marine to Star Trek to firefighter uniforms. Uneven, but very good. This is part of the M/M Romance challenge
21) Raintree: Inferno. Linda Howard. First in the series. I lucased this series, that is, I started in the middle and worked toward both ends. The other two were better. I had trouble getting past Dante (our hero) mind-raping his destined bride. (There are two concepts in that sentence I have trouble with) It was a good premise, just...poorly executed and the end felt rushed, even for the first book of a series.
22) The Two Lives of Errol Flynn. Michael Freedland. This is a biogrpahy by a man who reads biographies. I've already encountered 90% of this information--in a more entertaining voice--in My Wicked Wicked Ways. Not hard going, just very little new material.
23) Convent of the Pure by Sara M. Harvey. Portia and the ghost of her lover Imogen go to a decaying convent to investigate their leader's death. But dark magic and trouble, angelic children and succubi complicate the search. Steampunk lesbian deamon-fighters. Very good and recommended.
*24) Deviations: Submission. Jodi Payne & Chris Owen. Tobias is an ubertop celebrating his 41's birthday. When he's set up with a damaged sub, they get on a like a house afire. VERY hot.
*25) "Master of None: The Eight of Pentacles". Lee Benoit. Fantasy of a young man living among a troupe of entertainers and searching for his lost lover. Really excellent. Brilliant worldbuilding and good characters.
*26) Strongman. Denise Rossetti. Lovely fantasy about a mercenary joining up with a traveling fair and falling for an acrobat. Amazing world-building, great characters, gripping plot. Must read more of this series.
